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Estimation of incidence, prevalence, and age-at-diagnosis of myasthenia gravis among adults by hospital discharge records

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Summary

Background

The Hungarian Health Insurance Fund, using appropriate information technology, covers all of the secondary care of the country and maintains a database of Hospital Discharge Records (HDR). Our study aimed to determine the incidence, average age-at-diagnosis (AaD), and prevalence of myasthenia gravis (MG) among adults and the regional heterogeneity of these measures to assess the potential usefulness of HDRs for monitoring.

Methods

The nationwide database of 336,679 HDRs from 2004 to 2009 was analyzed. The incidence and prevalence were determined for adults in 2007. Patients with MG code in 2007, 2008, and 2009 but without that in 2004–2006 were defined as incident. Distribution of AaD was described for these cases. Patients with an MG code in 2007, 2008, and 2009 were defined as prevalent in 2007. The heterogeneity of regional age-standardized indices was tested.

Results

The observed incidence and prevalence was 2.76/100,000 (men: 2.37/100,000; women: 3.11/100,000) and 17.42/100,000 (male: 13.08/100,000; female: 21.28/100,000), respectively. These estimates were within published ranges. The mean AaD was significantly higher for men than for women (63.60 vs. 51.92; p < 0.001). Significant regional heterogeneity was observed for all measures.

Conclusions

HDRs seem to be useful for developing MG indicators because they adequately estimate epidemiological parameters of MG occurrence.

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Acknowledgments

The publication is supported by the TÁMOP-4.2.2.A-11/1/KONV-2012–0031 project. The project is co-financed by the European Union and the European Social Fund.

Conflict of interest

A. Foldvari, N. Kovacs, V. Sipos, G. Merth, F. Vincze, M. Szucs, and J. Sandor declare that there are no actual or potential conflicts of interest in relation to this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Public Health, University of Debrecen, PO Box 2, 4012, Debrecen, Hungary

    Anett Foldvari, Nora Kovacs, Valeria Sipos, Ferenc Vincze & Janos Sandor MD, PhD

  2. National Institute for Quality- and Organizational Development in Healthcare and Medicines, Directorate General of IT and Health System Analysis, Budapest, Hungary

    Gabriella Merth

  3. Department of Epidemiology, County Institute of State Public Health Service, Szekszárd, Hungary

    Maria Szucs MD

Authors
  1. Anett Foldvari
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  2. Nora Kovacs
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  3. Valeria Sipos
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  4. Gabriella Merth
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  5. Ferenc Vincze
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  6. Maria Szucs MD
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  7. Janos Sandor MD, PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Janos Sandor MD, PhD.

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Foldvari, A., Kovacs, N., Sipos, V. et al. Estimation of incidence, prevalence, and age-at-diagnosis of myasthenia gravis among adults by hospital discharge records. Wien Klin Wochenschr 127, 459–464 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00508-015-0796-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00508-015-0796-5

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