Coinciding morbidity in patients with coxarthrosis. An epidemiological study of roentgen examinations.

In 279 patients who had undergone total hip replacement because of primary coxarthrosis, the occurrence of fractures, other diseases, and roentgen examinations was compared with that in the same number of age- and sexmatched controls from the same population. Coxarthrosis patients had had significantly more fractures than the controls before their hip operation but did not have significantly more after the operation except for fracture distal to the femur implant, which was rare but occurred only in the patients who had undergone surgery. Fragility fractures, including hip fractures, were equally frequent in coxarthrosis patients and controls. There was a higher tendency to morbidity in conditions related to ageing and degeneration; diabetes, however, was less frequent in coxarthrosis patients. Coxarthrosis patients had also had more frequent examinations of their gastro intestinal tract and their kidneys.