Comment on Is the Incidence of Addison’s Disease Underestimated?

Marie-France Kong and William Jeffcoate

City Hospital Nottingham NG5 1PB, UK

Laureti et al. (1) have calculated the prevalence of Addison’s disease to be of the order of 117 per million in Umbria and comment that this estimate is 2- to 3-fold higher than those previously reported. They could not have been aware of our own study of the condition in Nottingham, UK (2). In a detailed review of all known cases, we concluded that the prevalence in the UK was of the order of 110 per million, with an apparent incidence of 5.6 per million.

References

  1. Laureti S, Vecchi L, Santeusanio F, Falorni A. 1999 Is the incidence of Addison’s disease underestimated? J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 84:1762.[Free Full Text]
  2. Kong M-F, Jeffcoate WJ. 1994 Eighty-six cases of Addison’s disease. Clin Endocrinol. 41:757–761.[Medline]