Comparison of Outcomes Between Nonsmokers and Patients Who Discontinued Smoking 1 Month Before Primary Hip Arthroscopy: A Propensity-Matched Study With Minimum 2-Year Follow-up

Background: Cigarette smoking has been shown to negatively affect outcomes after hip arthroscopy for femoroacetabular impingement syndrome (FAIS). The effect of cessation of cigarette smoking before surgery has not been well established. Purposes: (1) To report minimum 2-year patient-reported outcomes (PROs) of former smokers who underwent primary hip arthroscopy for FAIS and (2) to compare these results with those of a propensity-matched control group of nonsmokers. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: Data were collected for all patients who underwent primary hip arthroscopy for FAIS between December 2008 and November 2017. Patients were eligible if they indicated that they had previously smoked cigarettes but had quit smoking at least 1 month before surgery and had minimum 2-year postoperative outcomes for the modified Harris Hip Score (mHHS), Nonarthritic Hip Score (NAHS), and visual analog scale (VAS) for pain. The percentage of hips achieving the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) were recorded. The study group was then propensity matched in a 1:1 ratio by age, sex, and body mass index (BMI) to patients who had never smoked. Results: A total of 83 former-smoking patients (84 hips; age, 45.0 ± 13.5 years) were included at a median follow-up of 38.6 months (interquartile range, 27.5-48.2 months); all patients had stopped smoking at a mean ± standard deviation of 14.3 ± 24.5 months preoperatively. Former smokers demonstrated significant improvement from preoperatively to the minimum 2-year follow-up for all recorded PROs (P < .001 for all) and achieved the MCID for the mHHS, NAHS, and VAS at favorable rates (75.0%-81.6%). Logistic regression analysis did not identify a significant relationship between cessation time and rates of achieving MCID for mHHS, NAHS, or VAS. When compared with 84 never-smokers (84 hips), the former smokers demonstrated similar preoperative scores, postoperative scores, and improvement on all recorded PROs (P > .05 for all). Both groups achieved MCID for mHHS, NAHS, and VAS at similar rates and demonstrated similar rates of revision surgery. Conclusion: Former smokers who underwent primary hip arthroscopy for FAIS demonstrated significant improvement in PROs at minimum 2-year follow-up. When compared with a propensity-matched control group of never-smokers, they achieved similar postoperative PROs and rates of achieving psychometric thresholds.