The prevalence of Dupuytren’s Disease in 50-90 year olds in Groningen.

Abstract

Introduction: Dupuytren’s Disease (DD) is a common benign fibroproliferative disorder of the hand and digits that can progress towards a flexure contraction of the digits. In other countries numerous prevalence studies of DD have been conducted, however until now this has not been done in the Netherlands. Objective: To determine the prevalence of Dupuytren’s Disease in 50-90 year olds. To determine what age category is affected the most. To determine what digit is affected the most. Study the relation of different risk factors to the presence of DD. Design: Cross-sectional study with a stratified age sample was used. Methods: The sample was calculated at 1360 individuals living in the city of Groningen. Men and women of 50 years and older were selected at random. Participants were visited at home. They underwent a questionnaire for potential risk factors and their hands were examined on the presence of nodules, strands, skin tethering and joint contractions. Affected hands were submitted to the disease classification by Iselin. Descriptive statistics were used to calculate the prevalence rates. Pearson’s chi-squared test was used for comparison of the presence of DD and gender. Furthermore a multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to elucidate influencing risk factors. Results: 634 individuals were included. An overall prevalence 24.3% was found. The presence of DD was highly age dependant with the lowest rate of 5.5% found in 50-55 year olds and the highest rate of 58.6% % found in 81-85 year olds. With a prevalence of 28.9% men appeared to be significantly more affected than women (20.4%). The 4th digit contained nodules or worse most often. It appeared that consuming high amounts of alcoholic consumptions, a high age and having an affected relative of first degree are risk factors for developing DD.