Objective To analyze the characteristics of steroid-induced avascular necrosis of the femoral head, and to provide reference for the early prevention and diagnosis of steroid-induced avascular necrosis of the femoral head. Methods Using the database of avascular necrosis of femoral head, the hospitalized patients with steroid-induced avascular necrosis of femoral head from January 2014 to December 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. The basic information of patients (gender, age, occupation, educational level, BMI value), disease status (location, course, severity, TCM syndromes, hospital grade of first visit), and the use of hormones (primary disease, intensive use), the hormone status (primary disease, time of use, drug name, drug method, daily dosage, daily use times) and other related data were extracted and analyzed. Results There were 1062 cases of femoral head necrosis. Among those, 471 of them were steroid-induced femoral head necrosis, and 438 were included. The characteristics of steroid-induced avascular necrosis of the femoral head were as follows. (1) The main basic conditions of the patients showed that 271 were women (61.87%), 223 patients (50.91%) were aged from 51 to 60 years old, 224 patients (51.14%) were farmers, 123 patients (28.08%) were with junior middle school education, and BMI values of 327 patients (74.66%) were in the normal range. (2) The disease situation appeared that 314 patients (71.69%) were with bilateral disease, 163 patients (37.21%) had disease course less than 3 months, 168 patients (38.36%) were at ARCO stage III, and 187 patients (42.69%) had their first visit to a doctor at a grade I hospital. (3) The hormone use showed that 189 patients (43.15%) were with autoimmune diseases in primary diseases, 162 patients (36.97%) used Bonisone, 112 patients (25.57%) used hormone for more than two years, 171 patients (39.04%) used hormone orally, 127 patients (29.0%) used hormone less than 10-20 mg daily, 128 patients (29.23%) used hormone twice a day. Conclusion The main characteristics of the onset of steroid-induced avascular necrosis of femoral head include 41-60-year-old female heavy manual workers with primary history, junior middle school and lower education level, 62.10% of ARCO III and IV stage on the visit in our hospital, 54.34% of the use of hormones for more than one year, and the daily use of 10-20 mg hormones with twice a day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]