The prevalence of patients with cancer histories and types of cancers prevailing among a cohort of adults with end-stage hip osteoarthritis was established in order to determine if this group might require some form of enriched pre- and postoperative rehabilitation in view of their adverse medical history. Body weights and selected physical capacity indicators were specifically compared among hip surgical patients with and without cancer histories to specify characteristics that could direct potentially desirable and improved intervention efforts. The medical records of 1,000 hip osteoarthritis surgical candidates were scrutinized, and numbers with and without malignancy histories were recorded. Malignancy typologies and selected body mass and physical capacity indices were recorded. Specific subgroup comparisons among these variables were then made for 40 cancer survivors and an age- and gender-matched subgroup of 40 otherwise healthy osteoarthritis patients, and for selected breast, prostate, and colon cancer survivors. (1) Fourteen percent of the present patient group had a cancer history. (2) The most common malignancy noted was breast cancer, followed by prostate and then colon cancer. (3) Among subjects matched for age and gender, 85% with a cancer history were overweight or obese, compared with 60% of those with no comorbid disease history. (4) Patients with cancer histories were more impaired immediately before, and after, surgery than patients with no cancer history. (5) Patients with breast and colon cancer histories had significantly slower recovery rates after hip surgery than those with a prostate cancer history (p < 0.05). Thus, breast, prostate, and colon cancer survivors constitute a modest proportion of patients undergoing surgery for painful disabling hip osteoarthritis. As a subgroup, cancer survivors, especially breast cancer survivors, are overweight, and more impaired before and after surgery than adults of the same age without a cancer history undergoing hip surgery.