Poster 199: High Prevalence of Elevated Beighton Scores in Females Undergoing FAI Surgery
Authors: Nepple Jeffrey , O’Connor Kyle , Westermann Robert , Spiker Andrea , Levy Bruce , Yen Yi-Meng , Larson Christopher , ANCHOR Study Group  , Clohisy John 
Published: August 2024

Objectives:

Femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) is classically described as restricted internal rotation in flexion resulting in labral and cartilage pathology. Despite 20 years of FAI research, there is still limited understanding of the drivers of symptomatology in the subset of patients with underlying FAI morphology. While the prevalence of FAI morphologies is substantially higher in men, numerous studies have shown more women being treated for FAI compared to men. Soft-tissue laxity and hip instability are increasingly recognized as a potential contributor to symptoms in addition to FAI. The Beighton score is a well-accepted means to quantify soft-tissue laxity and has been validated for self-scoring. The purpose of the current study was to (1) investigate the prevalence of soft-tissue laxity in male and female patients presenting with symptomatic FAI in a multicenter prospective cohort study, and (2) correlate soft-tissue laxity with patient primary complaints of either mobility, stability, or pain.

Methods:

A prospective multicenter cohort study of 696 FAI patients undergoing primary hip arthroscopy surgery was performed and utilized for the current study. Inclusion criteria are patients aged 14 to 45 years old with idiopathic FAI not caused by childhood disease. Exclusion criteria are previous ipsilateral hip procedures or disease processes such as neuromuscular disease or Tonnis 2 or greater osteoarthritis. The Beighton score was assessed by electronic patient self-scoring. Beighton scores >4 were considered a marker of soft-tissue laxity. The MSP index was utilized to have patients rank from most to least the biggest problems with their hip: Mobility (M), Stability (S), or Pain (P). The chi-square or Fisher exact test were utilized to compare groups.

Results:

The prevalence of Beighton scores >4 was 57.2% in female patients, compared to 29.3% in male patients (p < 0.001). In female patients, 44.4%, 22.6%, and 7.7% had Beighton scores of 5+, 7+, and 9 respectively, compared to 16.7%, 5.8%, and 1.8% in male patients (all p < 0.005). In the overall FAI cohort, pain was the primary complaint in 72.1% of patients, compared to 24.2% complaining primarily of mobility and 3.7% complaining primarily of stability. Among female patients, the presence of soft-tissue laxity (relative to thresholds of Beighton 4, 5, 7, and 9) did not significantly influence the patient primary complaints (with pain being the predominant complaint). Overall, 85 female patients had a Beighton score of 7 or greater and only 2.4% reported stability of the hip as a primary complaint, compared to 2.4% of female patients with a Beighton <7. Stability was more commonly indicated as a second most important factor in the setting of soft-tissue laxity, compared to mobility. Among female patients with a Beighton >7, 29.5% reported stability as a primary or secondary complaint, compared to 15.2% of female patients with a Beighton score <7.

Conclusions:

Over half of female patients undergoing FAI surgery have underlying soft-tissue laxity as measured by the Beighton score. In the setting of soft-tissue laxity, patient primary symptomatic complaint remains pain, but a secondary complaint is significant more likely to be stability rather than mobility (compared to FAI patients without soft tissue laxity complain of mobility secondarily over stability). Further research is needed to better understand the role of soft-tissue laxity in the pathophysiology of FAI and the outcomes of surgical treatment.