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Hip shape variance may account for differing OA rates in Caucasian, Chinese women

Dudda M. Arthritis Rheum. 2011. 10.1002/art.30472.

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Caucasian women have different hip shapes compared with Chinese women — variances which may predispose Caucasian women to femoroacetabular impingement that leads to hip osteoarthritis, according to Boston researchers.

Hip OA has a much higher prevalence in Caucasians than Asians, although the reasons for this ethnic difference are unknown, according to Marcel Dudda, MD, and colleagues at Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School.

To investigate whether certain abnormalities predispose Caucasian women to hip OA, the researchers performed a morphometric study on 400 non-arthritic hips of 200 women. The participants were culled from two studies: the Beijing OA study and the U.S.-based Study of Osteoporotic Fractures study. Using measures of hip dysplasia and impingement — lateral center edge angle, acetabular slope, femoral head neck ratio and the cross over sign — the researchers compared data from Caucasian and Chinese hips.

Caucasian women had lower mean impingement angle (83.6° vs. 87°) compared with Chinese women. Caucasian women were more likely to have center edge angles suggestive of impingement (center edge angle >35°: 11% of Chinese vs. 23% of Caucasian hips). The researchers found that low center edge angles, which suggest dysplasia, were more common in Chinese women (for <20°, 22% of Chinese vs. 7% of Caucasian hips).