Editorial Commentary: PASSing the Test Versus Acing It: Understanding Clinically Significant Outcome Improvement in Arthroscopic Hip Surgery

There is increasing interest in defining clinically significant outcome after orthopaedic procedures, and the field of hip preservation surgery is leading the way. Minimal clinically important difference, patient acceptable symptomatic state (PASS), and substantial clinical benefit have been established as important measures of clinically significant outcome. The International Hip Outcome Tool 12-question subset, one of the newer hip-specific measures, is being increasingly used. The 12-item version may prove popular among investigators given its decreased questionnaire burden. There still remain opportunities in future work to standardize how we analyze, interpret, and report clinically significant outcome. Specifically, an anchor-based method for calculating PASS may provide a more accurate representation of PASS score for arthroscopic hip surgery patients.