ANTICIPATING TIME TAKEN OFF WORK AFTER PERIACETABULAR OSTEOTOMY: HOW SHOULD WE BE ADVISING OUR PATIENTS?

Periacetabular osteotomy (PAO) is a recognised treatment for symptomatic acetabular dysplasia. Loss of mobility during the post-operative recovery period is inevitable. Expected time off work is a common question as most patients who present with symptoms and undergo PAO are of working age. Planning for both financial and social impacts play an important role for patients when considering PAO. No previous studies have reported on the time taken to return to work following PAO. The aim of this study was to quantify the amount of time taken off work following PAO. Patients who had responded to the questions asking about their return to work from the Northumbria Hip Preservation Unit Patient Reported Outcomes (PROMs) database were included. In addition to time taken to return to work, demographic data, and EQ-5D-VAS, EQ-5D-Index, UCLA-Activity, NAHS, and iHOT-12 scores before and after surgery were collected. In Total there were responses from 258 patients (24 bilateral) for 282 PAO procedures performed. The median age at the time of procedure was 33 years (IQR 23–40 years) and 91.1% (n=257) were in female patients. Time taken to return to work ranged from 0 weeks to 208 weeks. The median time reported to return to work was 16 weeks (IQR 12–22 weeks). Pre-operative E Q-5D-VAS and EQ-5D-Index scores moderately correlated to weeks till return. UCLA-Activity and NAHS were only weak correlations. 1-year post-operatively there was only a weak correlation between PROMs scores with the time taken to return to work though all were significant (p < 0.05). Based on the findings of this study we would advise prospective PAO candidates that the average time taken to return to work after PAO was 16.5 weeks with the majority (85%) having returned by 6 months. It was also noted that poorer pre- and post-operative PROMs significantly correlated, weakly, with an extended period away from work.