Hip‐Specific Patient‐Reported Outcomes Strongly Correlate With Pain and Physical Function Metrics but not Mental Health Before and After Hip Arthroscopy for Femoroacetabular Impingement Syndrome

Purpose To assess the relationships between hip‐specific patient‐reported outcomes (PROs) metrics and general health and pain measures before and after hip arthroscopy for femoroacetabular impingement syndrome (FAIS). Methods This was a retrospective study of patients undergoing hip arthroscopy for FAIS at a single institution from 2014 to 2025. PRO scores, including hip‐specific scores of modified Harris hip score (mHHS) and Hip Disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (HOOS), as well as general health scores including 12‐Item Short Form Survey (SF‐12) physical and mental components and visual analog scale pain, were collected. Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated to assess the relationship between hip‐specific outcome scores and quality of life metrics across multiple pre‐ and postoperative time points. Results Six hundred sixty‐eight patients (53.9% female) average age 34.3 years, body mass index 24.6, and mean follow‐up 20.1 ± 14.0 months (range 3‐60) were included. Both hip‐specific PRO tools (HOOS and mHHS) showed at least strong‐moderate, but mostly strong, correlations with both the visual analog scale pain scale and SF‐12 physical component score preoperatively and at all time points postoperatively (Spearman's ρ range: −0.64 to −0.81, P < .01). The HOOS Total and mHHS had only poor or nonsignificant correlations with the SF‐12 mental component score. At 1‐, 2‐, and 5‐year follow‐up after surgery, 75.3% to 81.6% of patients achieved minimal clinically important difference (MCID) for HOOS Total and 63.3% to 65.9% for mHHS. Furthermore, 61.4% to 73.5% of patients achieved MCID for SF‐12 physical component score, whereas only 33.2% to 44.9% achieved MCID for SF‐12 mental component score. Conclusions Hip‐specific PRO scores have significant, strong correlations with both pain and physical function metrics before and after hip arthroscopy for FAIS. However, there was little to no correlation between hip‐specific PROs and mental health metrics in this cohort. Level of Evidence Level IV, retrospective case series.