Temporal Trends in Characteristics of Newly Diagnosed Nontraumatic Osteonecrosis of the Femoral Head From 1997 to 2011: A Hospital-Based Sentinel Monitoring System in Japan

BACKGROUND: Nontraumatic osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) is a rare disorder caused by ischemic necrosis of unknown etiology. A few studies have demonstrated trends in the number of patients with ONFH. However, there are no data on temporal trends in characteristics such as age, gender, and causative factors. To investigate this, we examined data from a multicenter hospital-based sentinel monitoring system in Japan. METHODS: A total of 3041 newly-diagnosed ONFH patients from 34 participating hospitals who were reported to the system from 1997–2011 were analyzed. We examined age at diagnosis, potential causative factors, and underlying diseases for which patients received systemic steroid administration. Their temporal trends were assessed according to date of diagnosis in 5-year intervals (1997–2001, 2002–2006, and 2007–2011). RESULTS: The gender ratio and distribution of potential causative factors did not change. Regarding underlying diseases requiring steroid administration, the proportion of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus decreased in males (10% to 6.4%) and in females (37% to 29%). Proportion of patients with renal transplantation fell consistently across the study period in both males (3.8% to 1.2%) and females (3.2% to 0.8%). In contrast, the proportion of patients receiving steroids for pulmonary disease (except asthma) significantly increased in both males (0.5% to 5.5%) and females (0.5% to 3.6%). CONCLUSIONS: This large descriptive study is the first to investigate temporal trends in the characteristics of ONFH, which provide useful information for future studies.