Young Patients: Link Between Mental Health & Postsurgery Hip Pain

Newswise — New research suggests that physicians evaluating young patients with hip pain should consider more than such patients’ physical health. They also should consider screening those patients for clinical depression and anxiety — impairments that researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found can have a negative impact on outcomes following hip surgery, such as pain, slower recoveries and inadequate return to activity.

The findings are published online Dec. 12 in The American Journal of Sports Medicine.

In one of the first large studies to focus on mental health effects associated with hip pain, the researchers analyzed data gathered in 12 smaller studies conducted since 2014. The results suggest it may be advisable to start screening young patients with hip pain for depression and anxiety, especially before they undergo arthroscopic hip procedures.

“In a perfect world, we would screen patients for anxiety and depression before surgery and offer treatment, if needed,” said first author Abby L. Cheng, MD, an assistant professor of orthopedic surgery. “But that’s not usually what happens with these patients right now. Plus, many patients think that if their pain goes away, their anxiety or depression will go away, too. But that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

Cheng, a physiatrist trained in physical medicine and rehabilitation, works with patients who have hip pain, but she does not perform hip surgery herself. She analyzed data from more than 5,600 hip surgery patients, ages 29 to 41.

All of the studies in the analysis included evaluations of the effects of depression or anxiety on postsurgical clinical outcomes, such as use of pain-killing drugs after an operation, return to pre-surgery activities, and overall patient satisfaction following surgery. In every study, patients with anxiety and depression prior to surgery were statistically less likely to have good outcomes after their operations.

 

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