The incidence of osteochondritis dissecans.

THE purpose of this paper is to establish the incidence of osteochondritis dissecans in the age group in which it is known to occur most commonly. In the services, the majority of men are ag~d 18-30 years and thereby constitute this age group. The total number of men reporting sick, whose signs and symptoms required a radiograph of a particular joint, were taken as the index for com.parison. Four joints were considered, namely the elbow, knee, ankle arid hip. The. total number of such men covered by this report was 18,405, of whom 427 suffered from osteochondritis dissecans, i.e., 2.3 per cent. This paper is an analysis of these 427 cases which were s~en over an eight-year period at one military hospital.