Abstract
BackgroundGreater trochanteric pain syndrome (GTPS) is a musculoskeletal condition which can cause disability and reduce quality of life. However, limited evidence is available on the long-term outcomes of people with GTPS. Our aims were to determine the long-term prevalence of GTPS; to calculate the proportion of people with GTPS who had developed hip osteoarthritis (OA); and to determine the level of function and quality of life, 11-years after initial GTPS diagnosis.MethodsA prospective 11-year natural history study. Two groups [GTPS group (n = 24), asymptomatic control (ASC) group (n = 20)] were evaluated at baseline, 12-months and 11-years. At 11-years all participants completed the modified Harris Hip Score (mHHS), Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and Assessment of Quality-of-Life questionnaire. At 11-year follow-up 20/24 GTPS and 19/20 ASC participants were clinically assessed for GTPS and hip OA, completed the 10 metre-walk-test, timed up and go, and hip abduction and external rotation strength testing.ResultsAt 11-year follow-up 45.0% of GTPS participants had GTPS compared to 5.3% of ASC participants (p = 0.008), OR [95% CI]: 10.19 [1.95, 104.3], and 35.0% of GTPS participants were clinically diagnosed with hip OA compared to none of the ASC participants (p = 0.002), OR [95% CI]: 21.6, [2.3, 2898.0]. GTPS participants reported more pain and disability than ASC participants via the ODI, mean difference [95% CI]: 6.1 [0.7, 11.6] but not the modified Harris Hip Score, mean difference [95% CI]: -3.3 [-10.3, 3.7]. Both groups had similar levels of quality of life and measures of function.ConclusionsGTPS is a chronic condition: people with GTPS at baseline had twice the odds of being clinically diagnosed with GTPS or hip OA than the control group at 11-years. Further, there appears to be a temporal relationship between GTPS and the development of hip OA. This finding highlights the need to identify effective treatments that address the underlying impairments associated with GTPS. Pain and function results varied depending on the assessment tools used. Between group differences in quality of life seen at baseline are not found at the 11-year follow-up. The small sample size means the results must be considered with caution.Level of EvidenceLevel II Natural history Study.
Highlights
Greater trochanteric pain syndrome (GTPS) is a musculoskeletal condition which can cause disability and reduce quality of life
The GTPS group had more corticosteroid injections and more hip arthroplasties, while full-time work status varied across the years, Table 2
We found that many of the dysfunctions, quality of life and functional outcome differences seen at baseline between the GTPS and asymptomatic control (ASC) groups had diminished, or no longer existed, at 11-years follow-up (Table 3)
Summary
Greater trochanteric pain syndrome (GTPS) is a musculoskeletal condition which can cause disability and reduce quality of life. The single prognostic study on GTPS (n = 164) reported at least 36% of people at 1-year and 29% of people at 5-years post diagnosis still had GTPS, with 24% self-reporting concurrent hip osteoarthritis (OA) [5]. While informative, this primary care, GP based study was limited by the low follow-up rate (54%), the retrospective design, lack of a clinical interview or examination to confirm the diagnosis and the absence of imaging findings at any point in the study. To our knowledge there is no long-term study that reports on dysfunction, quality of life or function in people with GTPS
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
