Background: The age and gender-related prevalence of arthrosis of the trapeziometacarpal joint has been incompletely defined.

Methods: The radiographs of 615 consecutive patients who had presented with an isolated fracture of the distal part of the radius over a two-year period were evaluated for evidence of trapeziometacarpal arthrosis. We used a simple three-grade rating system suitable for standard wrist radiographs. Grade I indicated no or nearly no arthrosis; grade II, obvious arthrosis; and grade III, a totally destroyed joint. This rating system was demonstrated to have adequate intraobserver reliability (average kappa of 0.72, p < 0.001) and interobserver reliability (average kappa of 0.56, p < 0.001). The number of patients with each grade of arthrosis was analyzed according to age and gender.

Results: The overall radiographic prevalence of trapeziometacarpal arthrosis in patients with a distal radial fracture increased steadily from the age of forty-one years onward and reached a prevalence of 91% in patients older than eighty years of age. The prevalence increased more rapidly in women than in men; it reached 94% in women who were older than eighty years of age compared with 85% in men who were older than eighty years of age. The prevalence of grade-III trapeziometacarpal arthrosis (a totally destroyed joint) was much greater in women than in men at all age levels; it reached a prevalence of 66% in women older than eighty years of age compared with 23% in men older than eighty years of age.

Conclusions: The radiographic prevalence of trapeziometacarpal arthrosis in patients presenting for treatment of a distal radial fracture is age-related, and trapeziometacarpal arthrosis is more likely to lead to complete joint destruction in women than it is in men.