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Descriptive epidemiology of Creutzfeldt‐Jakob disease in Finland
Author(s) -
Kovanen J.,
Haltia M.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
acta neurologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.967
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1600-0404
pISSN - 0001-6314
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0404.1988.tb05943.x
Subject(s) - medicine , epidemiology , mortality rate , concomitant , pediatrics , disease , incidence (geometry) , population , cause of death , demography , physics , environmental health , sociology , optics
— In 1974–84 30 patients died with a diagnosis of Creutzfeldt‐Jakob disease (CJD) in Finland. Sixteen of the patients were pathologically confirmed and 14 were probable cases; 6 were familial (20%). One further familial patient was alive at the end of 1984. The median age of the 30 patients at death was 59.5 years (range 46–73 years). The familial patients were significantly younger than sporadic cases (median and range 49.5 and 46–57 versus 61.5 and 51–73; P < 0.01). Only 5 of the 24 sporadic patients were men (male to female ratio 1:3.8). The annual number of new cases as well as the death rate increased in the late 1970's (annual death rate 0.57 per million in 1974–84 and 0.91 in 1979–84). This probably reflects the growing awareness of CJD among neurologists, rather than a real increase of the incidence and death rate. Annual age‐specific death rate per 1 million population in 1974–84 reached a peak value of 2.57 in the age group of 60–64 years. In sporadic CJD the age‐specific death rate of women was higher than that of men in all age groups. A chronic medical condition, precedent or concomitant with CJD, was seen in 15 patients.