Are Women Less Likely to Return to Sport Compared to Men Following Hip Arthroscopy. A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
Systematic Review
To compare return-to-sport outcomes between females/women/girls and males/men/boys undergoing hip arthroscopy and explore social and structural determinants of health that may influence return to sport. Systematic review with meta-analysis. CINAHL, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Embase, Medline, SPORTDiscus, and Web of Science from inception to February 2024. Studies were included if they assessed return to sport after hip arthroscopy and analyzed the influence of sex/gender on return-to-sport outcomes, or reported sex- or gender-stratified return-to-sport rates. We used a random effects model to calculate pooled odds ratios and conducted meta-regressions to compare return-to-sport outcomes between females/women/girls and males/men/boys. Forty-five studies were included, with all pooled results deemed as very low-certainty evidence. Compared to males/men/boys, females/women/girls had inferior return to sport at the same or higher level between 1 and 3 years postoperatively (pooled OR = 0.53; 95% CI: 0.34, 0.81; = .004), and at any level of sport at >3 years postoperatively (pooled OR = 0.46; 95% CI: 0.25, 0.86; = .014). Sports participation decreased over time, with ~5.5% to 10% lower proportions observed in females/women/girls compared to males/men/boys. The reporting of determinants of returning to sport was minimal, precluding further exploration of their effects. : Females/women/girls had lower odds of return to sport, especially during longer follow-up periods, than males/men/boys. The lack of reporting of social and structural determinants of health influencing return-to-sport outcomes makes the reasons for this disparity unclear. .
