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Epidemiology of Post-traumatic Osteoarthritis of the Lower Extremity: Premature Aging of Youthful Joints

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Early Osteoarthritis

Abstract

Post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA) accounts for approximately 12% of lower extremity symptomatic, radiographic osteoarthritis (OA). Traumatic injury can both increase the risk of OA and accelerate the time to onset as compared to the development of OA from other etiologies. Injuries to the ACL and meniscus are the most prominent contributors to the onset of post-traumatic knee OA, each accounting for nearly 25% of serious knee injuries. There is much debate as to whether ACL reconstruction surgery promotes or diminishes the risk of PTOA. While surgery causes further trauma to the knee, it also stabilizes the knee, thereby reducing the risk of future meniscal tear—another substantial contributor to PTOA. Post-traumatic hip OA is most often a result of acetabular fracture, although genetic factors and high-impact sports have also been shown to promote the early onset of OA. While ankle OA is far less common within the population as compared to knee and hip OA, the rate of post-traumatic ankle OA development is substantially greater for persons sustaining ankle injury than for those sustaining hip or knee injuries, likely as a result of the ankle’s anatomic structure. There are currently no treatments available to reverse or prevent further joint degeneration and the onset of OA, and thus, injury prevention is currently the most effective prevention strategy for post-traumatic OA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Orthopedic and Arthritis Center for Outcomes Research, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery (KRA, JNK), Division of Rheumatology, Immunity and Inflammation (JNK), Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School (JNK), Boston, MA, USA

    Kaetlyn R. Arant & Jeffrey N. Katz

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  1. Kaetlyn R. Arant
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  2. Jeffrey N. Katz
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Correspondence to Jeffrey N. Katz .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Brigham and Women’s Hospital Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Christian Lattermann

  2. Zentrum fur Experimentelle Orthopädie, Universitätsklinikum des Saarlandes, Homburg, Saarland, Germany

    Henning Madry

  3. Institute for Medical Science in Sports, Osaka Health Science University, Osaka, Japan

    Norimasa Nakamura

  4. Department of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas Research Hospital, Rozzano, Italy

    Elizaveta Kon

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Arant, K.R., Katz, J.N. (2022). Epidemiology of Post-traumatic Osteoarthritis of the Lower Extremity: Premature Aging of Youthful Joints. In: Lattermann, C., Madry, H., Nakamura, N., Kon, E. (eds) Early Osteoarthritis. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79485-9_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79485-9_4

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