In June1999 the Federation Cynologique Internationale (FCI) adopted an international certificate for hip and elbow dysplasia which allows for some degree of cross reference between the various grading systems used through out the world.  So using this international system as the base it is possible to make some comparisons between the scoring and grading system used in Australia and the UK and those used in Holland, Germany and the USA.   These are all based on the changes detected on radiographs taken in standard positions after the dog has reached 12months of age (24 months in the USA).

This is a brief outline of the international grading system:-

A    No sign of hip dysplasia

B    Nearly normal hip joints

C   Light (slight) hip dysplasia

D   Moderate hip dysplasia

E   Severe hip dysplasia

There are detailed definitions of the radiographic criteria used to allocate to these grades.  Further, each of these grades has been subdivided into two which helps with the comparison between national grades.  So there is A 1         and A 2, B1 and B2 and so on.

The base I have started from is the international classification and related this to the Australian system and            then the German and Dutch systems.

It is most important that it is understood that all the grading systems are based on the grading of the worst hip only and not a combination of both hips as is done in Australia and the UK so when the Australian  score is related to the other systems the score is the worst score for one hip not a combined score for both.

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