Study design
Trauma
The study was conducted as a transnational prospective controlled observational trial analyzing the clinical and cost effectiveness of the Dutch versus the German rehabilitation approach following p-THA. It is a mutual project of the orthopedic departments of University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) in the Netherlands and University Hospital for Orthopedics and Trauma Surgery Pius-Hospital, Medical Campus University of Oldenburg in Germany. Participating hospitals in the Netherlands were Ommelander Ziekenhuis Groningen (OZG) and Medical Center Leeuwarden (MCL), a large teaching hospital and a general hospital, respectively. German patients had surgery at Pius Hospital in Oldenburg and were inpatients at the rehabilitation center Reha-Zentrum am Meer in Bad Zwischenahn. All study-related measures were performed in accordance with the ethical principles formulated by the Declaration of Helsinki in its current version. In conformity, the study protocol was reviewed and ethical approval was provided by both the institutional review boards of both University Medical Center Groningen (METc2015/483) and Hannover Medical School (no. 2874–2015). Details of the study design are provided elsewhere [