Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013;8(1):e54367.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0054367. Epub 2013 Jan 14.

Nationwide prevalence of groin hernia repair

Jakob Burcharth  1 , Michael Pedersen, Thue Bisgaard, Carsten Pedersen, Jacob Rosenberg
Affiliations

Nationwide prevalence of groin hernia repair

Jakob Burcharth et al. PLoS One. 2013.

Abstract

Introduction: Groin hernia repair is a commonly performed surgical procedure in the western world but large-scaled epidemiologic data are sparse. Large-scale data on the occurrence of groin hernia repair may provide further understanding to the pathophysiology of groin hernia development. This study was undertaken to investigate the age and gender dependent prevalence of groin hernia repair.

Methods: In a nationwide register-based study, using data from the Civil Registration System covering all Danish citizens, we established a population-based cohort of all people living in Denmark on December 31(st), 2010. Within this population all groin hernia repairs during the past 5 years were identified using data from the ICD 10(th) edition in the Danish National Hospital Register.

Results: The study population covered n = 5,639,885 persons. During the five years study period 46,717 groin hernia repairs were performed (88.6% males, 11.4% females). Inguinal hernias comprised 97% of groin hernia repairs (90.2% males, 9.8% females) and femoral hernias 3% of groin hernia repairs (29.8% males, 70.2% females). Patients between 0-5 years and 75-80 years constituted the two dominant groups for inguinal hernia repair. In contrast, the age-specific prevalence of femoral hernia repair increased steadily throughout life peaking at age 80-90 years in both men and women.

Conclusion: The age distribution of inguinal hernia repair is bimodal peaking at early childhood and old age, whereas the prevalence of femoral hernia repair increased steadily throughout life. This information can be used to formulate new hypotheses regarding disease etiology with regard to age and gender specifications.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Prevalence of groin hernia repair, inguinal hernia and femoral hernia combined, stratified by age and gender.
The results indicate the percentage of persons at a given age in the population who were operated for a groin hernia during the study period. Example: 4.19% CI 4.04–4.34% of all males aged 75–80 years in Denmark were operated for a groin hernia at least once during the study period.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Prevalence of inguinal hernia repair stratified by age and gender.
The results indicate the percentage of persons at a given age in the population who were operated for an inguinal hernia during the study period. Example: 4.14% CI 4.0–4.29% of all males aged 75–80 years in Denmark were operated for an inguinal hernia at least once during the study period.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Prevalence of femoral hernia repair stratified by age and gender.
The results indicate the percentage of persons at a given age in the population who were operated for a femoral hernia during the study period. Example: 0.14% CI 0.12–0.16% of all females aged 80–90 years in Denmark were operated for a femoral hernia at least once during the study period.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Numerical number of inguinal hernia repairs performed stratified by age and gender.
Figure 5
Figure 5. Numerical number of femoral hernia repairs performed stratified by age and gender.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Kingsnorth A, LeBlanc K (2003) Hernias: inguinal and incisional. Lancet 362: 1561–71. - PubMed
    1. Ein SH, Njere I, Ein A (2006) Six thousand three hundred sixty-one pediatric inguinal hernias: a 35-year review. J Pediatr Surg 41: 980–6. - PubMed
    1. Rutkow IM (2003) Demographic and socioeconomic aspects of hernia repair in the United States in 2003. Surg Clin North Am 83: 1045–51. - PubMed
    1. Dabbas N, Adams K, Pearson K, Royle G (2011) Frequency of abdominal wall hernias: is classical teaching out of date? JRSM Short Rep 2: 5. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pedersen CB, Gøtzsche H, Møller JO, Mortensen PB (2006) The Danish Civil Registration System. A cohort of eight million persons. Dan Med Bull 53: 441–9. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources