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Abstract No. 2
Prevalences of the chronic idiopathic and metabolic photodermatoses in Scotland
Author(s) -
Dawe R.S.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
british journal of dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.304
H-Index - 179
eISSN - 1365-2133
pISSN - 0007-0963
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2133.2006.07477_2.x
Subject(s) - medicine , erythropoietic protoporphyria , population , confidence interval , dermatology , porphyria , demography , porphyria cutanea tarda , pediatrics , protoporphyrin , environmental health , chemistry , porphyrin , photochemistry , sociology
We have attempted to estimate the prevalence of the idiopathic photodermatoses (except the usually seasonal polymorphic light eruption and juvenile spring eruption) and the cutaneous porphyrias in Scotland. Knowledge of the prevalence of these conditions may be useful (i) for planning care for our population, and (ii) because knowledge of prevalences in our population, compared with other populations, might help us to determine factors likely to be important in causing these disorders. The Photobiology Unit holds a database of patients assessed between 1978 and now. For this study the database was searched in January 2003. We have estimated population prevalences based on the assumptions (i) that we have investigated all patients with these conditions who live in appropriate catchment areas, (ii) that the population of these areas is as recorded in the 2001 Census, and (iii) that our local database accurately lists patients who are still alive and in our area. We estimated prevalences (per 100 000) as follows: chronic actinic dermatitis 16·5 (binomial ‘exact’ 95% confidence interval 13·7–19·7), porphyria cutanea tarda 7·6 (3·8–13·5), idiopathic solar urticaria 3·9 (2·6–5·6), actinic prurigo 3·3 (2·1–4·8), erythropoietic protoporphyria 2·3 (1·3–3·7), variegate porphyria 0·54 (0·15–1·4), hydroa vacciniforme 0·47 (0·03–0·71) and erythropoietic porphyria 0·04 (0·0048–0·14). Ideally, prevalences of these conditions should be determined by a population survey, or the use of capture‐recapture methods. However, neither of these approaches is practical for these rare conditions for which there are not multiple comprehensive diagnostic databases. Our approach, despite all its flaws, gives better estimates than have until now been available for prevalences of most of these conditions. Acknowledgment and Disclaimer: Orfagen (France) provided funding for this study. This study has not been previously published but has been presented at a meeting of the Scottish Dermatological Society.