Hidradenitis suppurativa: how common is the condition and what is it linked to?

Hidradenitis suppurativa, shortened to HS, is a long‐term disease causing painful boils in skin creases such as the armpits and groin. There are no standard tests to confirm the diagnosis and HS is diagnosed by clinicians recognising the condition. I conducted a review of the estimates for how many people have HS and looked for links between HS and other medical conditions. My review did not include every research project on the subject but aimed to include the most important ones. I found that estimates for the percentage of people with HS vary a lot, from only one in 2,000 to one in 25 people. This may be because of the different ways of estimating the figure. Some of the methods miss people who have not yet been diagnosed. For the USA and Europe I found that HS is more common in women in their 30s and 40s, while in South Korea it is commonest in men. There are strong links with smoking and being overweight. People with HS are more likely than those without HS to have risk factors for and die from heart disease and stroke. They are more likely to have depression, and suicide rates are higher in HS. I confirmed that HS is linked with other long‐term inflammatory conditions. We still can’t predict who will progress more quickly than others to severe disease. HS generally starts soon after puberty but we don’t know whether it improves after the menopause in women. Linked Article:   Ingram. Br J Dermatol 2020; 183 :990–998.