The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical and radiographic results and complication rates after cementless total hip arthroplasty using an ultrashort femoral stem in highly active [University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) activity level above 8 points] obese and non-obese patients.
A total of 108 patients (138 hips) in the obese group [body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m(2) or greater] and 125 patients (168 hips) in the nonobese group (BMI of 29 kg/m(2) or less) were enrolled in the study. The mean age was 50.7 ± 11.6 years in the obese group and 48.2 ± 13.0 years in the nonobese group. The mean follow-up was 7.4 years (range six to eight years) and 7.5 years (range six to eight years), respectively.
At the final follow-up, there were no significant differences between the highly active obese and nonobese patients with regard to the mean Harris hip score (91 versus 94 points, p = 0.091), the mean Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (16 versus 11 points, p = 0.135) or the mean UCLA activity scores (8.7 versus 8.8 points, p = 0.400). No hip in either group had thigh pain or a revision or ceramic fracture.
The most striking findings in this study were the equivalent results achieved in highly active obese and nonobese patients undergoing primary cementless total hip arthroplasty using an ultrashort metaphyseal-fitting anatomic cementless femoral component.