The reliability of hip scoring systems for total hip arthroplasty candidates: assessment by physical therapists.

OBJECTIVE: Hip rating systems have been widely used in assessing severity of hip dysfunction but no uniform method has emerged. The current study was performed to determine the interobserver reliability of five different hip scores on patients with coxarthrosis.
DESIGN: Test reliability among physical therapists for five commonly used hip scores.
SUBJECTS: Thirty-five patients (48 hips) who had coxarthrosis and who were candidates for total hip arthroplasty were included in the study.
METHODS: Patients were evaluated preoperatively by three physical therapists using five different hip rating systems; the Harris Hip Score, the Iowa Hip Score, the Charnley Hip Score, the Merle d'Aubigne Hip Score and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons' Hip Score.
RESULTS: The average age of the patients was 58.8 +/- 2.2 years (range 28-76 years). For all scores, an excellent interobserver reliability between the physical therapists were found (kappa = 0.77-0.95). The best correlation between first and second observer was on Harris Hip Score (kappa = 0.91), between second and third was on Merle d'Aubigne Hip Score (kappa = 0.95) and between first and third was on Iowa Hip Score (kappa = 0.87).
CONCLUSION: There was an excellent interobserver reliability for all hip scores between the physical therapists, suggesting that all these hip scores are suitable for use by physical therapists.