Osteoarthritis and gender-specific joint replacement

Abstract

Osteoarthritis is a debilitating joint disease which primarily affects women for reasons that remain unclear. There are many treatment options available to address the pain and loss of function in osteoarthritis, ranging from noninvasive physical therapy to total joint replacement. Most of the treatments are gender neutral, but recently knee implants have been marketed to women as gender specific. This chapter reviews the most recent literature on these topics. The literature suggests that gender-neutral knee and hip implants used for total joint replacements are equally beneficial in both men and women. Gender-specific knee implants have not shown any increased benefit in short-term studies, and it remains to be seen how they will compare to gender-neutral knee implants in the long term. There are no gender-specific hip implants on the market, and there is not a clear consensus about whether the production of a gender-specific hip is necessary.