The prevalence of Addison's disease in Coventry, UK

Abstract

SummaryThe prevalence of Addison's disease (chronic adrenal failure) has not been widely investigated and is usually given as 39 in a million. We conducted a prevalence study using a postal survey of general practitioners in Coventry. Three quarters (1391188) replied, representing 79/85 (93%) of the practices. Thirty cases of Addision's disease were found from a total patient list of 323 852, of which a third were tuberculous in origin and twothirds non-tuberculous (12I30 autoimmune, 8/30 unclassified). We conclude that Addison's disease is 2.4 times more common than previously reported. The tuberculous group was older, 65 vs 52 years (p<0.05), and had had the disease for longer than the non-tuberculous group, 20 vs 12 years (p<0.05). There was no significant difference in the age at diagnosis.

Increasing prevalence of Addison's disease in German females: health insurance data 2008–2012

“…This prevalence appears lower than in the Scandinavian countries, Norway (144 per million) and Sweden (136 per million) (6, 7). It is also lower than most of the estimations for other European countries so far (3,4,5,6). As the latter figures are based on few data from very small populations, their validity is limited.…”

“…Epidemiological data in AD have been provided not only by either Scandinavian registries but also through investigator-initiated databases in the academic centers with a large referral area (3,4,5). We provide such data for the first time through a SHI.…”

“…For the European countries, the prevalence is estimated at 93-144 cases per million (1,2). These estimations, however, are based on few data from rather small populations -less than one million -in single European regions (3,4,5,6). Most convincing data come from the Scandinavian countries, where national patient registries exist (7,8).…”

“…An increasing incidence has been observed in AD (1,2,4,6,8) and several other autoimmune-mediated disorders in recent years, including celiac disease (13), type 1 diabetes (14,15,16,17,18), and multiple sclerosis (19). Diverse genetic variations predispose to autoimmune AD (20,21,22).…”

“…Several recent studies have pointed to an increasing incidence of the disease in the last decades (1,2,4,6). Very recently, a Swedish study, based on the Swedish National Prescribed Drug Register, has shown a distinct increase in yearly prevalence for autoimmune AD from 12.2 to 13.1/100 000 person years in the period 2005-2009 (8).…”