Checklist for DDH
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Diagnostic Test Study of Primary Care Clinicians Evaluating the Hips of Infants for Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip
IRAS ID
242668
Contact name
Andreas Roposch
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
None, None
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 2 months, 27 days
Research summary
Developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) is a condition where the 'ball and socket' joint of the hips doesn't properly form in babies and young children. Because early recognition of disease is associated with better outcomes, it is national policy to examine all infants for the presence of DDH at birth and at 6 weeks in primary care (6-week hip check). Despite a compulsory hip check at the age of 6 weeks in primary care, missed diagnoses and infants incorrectly labelled with DDH remain an important problem, potentially leading to adverse consequences for infants, their families and the NHS.
There are currently no uniform and standardised criteria for use at the compulsory 6-week check in primary care for identification of infants with developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH), or those at sufficient high risk for DDH warranting referral to secondary care.
We designed a 7-item Checklist that identifies such infants in prior research. We now want to conduct a study of GPs who examine babies at the 6-week check in order to determine how well our Checklist performs.
We will recruit 20-30 GPs practicing in Greater London, Middlesex and Oxfordshire. These will examine, using our Checklist, infants who attend routine care consultations at regional infant hip services.
We will then compare the results obtained from GPs using out Checklist against the results obtained in the routine care consultations at regional infant hip services. This will allow us to determine the diagnostic accuracy of GPs using our Checklist (i.e. how well the Checklist performs in hands of GPs with the routine care consultations at regional infant hip services as a reference).
The use of the diagnostic aid by GPs could reduce the number of infants diagnosed late with DDH and also reduce missed diagnoses of DDH.
REC name
West Midlands - Solihull Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/WM/0165
Date of REC Opinion
5 Jul 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion