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. 2009 Jan;23(1):13-5.
doi: 10.1111/j.1468-3083.2008.02938.x. Epub 2008 Aug 18.

Incidence of erythromelalgia: a population-based study in Olmsted County, Minnesota

K B Reed  1 , M D P Davis
Affiliations

Incidence of erythromelalgia: a population-based study in Olmsted County, Minnesota

K B Reed et al. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2009 Jan.

Abstract

Objective: To estimate the population-based incidence of erythromelalgia. Background Only one report describing the incidence of erythromelalgia has been published previously.

Study design: A population-based analysis of data from the Rochester Epidemiology Project.

Setting: Tertiary care medical centre in Olmsted County, Minnesota (a rural county in the south-eastern portion of the state).

Patients: Thirty-three residents of Olmsted County with a diagnosis of erythromelalgia during the study period.

Methods: Age- and sex-specific incidence rates of erythromelalgia were determined.

Intervention: None.

Main outcome: Population-based incidence rate.

Results: The overall age- and sex-adjusted incidence rate (95% confidence interval, 95% CI) was 1.3 (0.8-1.7) per 100,000 people per year. The incidence of primary and secondary erythromelalgia was 1.1 (0.7-1.5) and 0.2 (0.02-0.4) per 100,000 people per year, respectively. The age-adjusted incidence rates (95% CI) were 2.0 (1.2-2.7) per 100,000 women and 0.6 (0.1-1.1) per 100,000 men. The study was limited by the small sample size and potential variability in recognition of erythromelalgia.

Conclusion: The population-based incidence of erythromelalgia has increased with each decade in Olmsted County over the past three decades; overall incidence was 1.3 per 100,000 people per year, approximately 5 times higher than previously reported.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: none.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Incidence of Erythromelalgia in Olmsted County, Minnesota, 1976-2005. Plot whiskers indicate 95% confidence intervals. Rate was adjusted to the population structure of the US white population in 2000.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Age-Adjusted Incidence of Erythromelalgia in Olmsted County, 1976-2005.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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