Increasing incidence of
childhood Graves’ disease in Hong Kong: A follow-up study
Cheng PS, Cheng WT, Wong GWK
Department of Paediatrics, Prince of Wales
Hospital, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region, China
Objective: To determine the
incidence of childhood Graves’ disease in Hong Kong to analyse whether
there is an increasing trend of the incidence.
Methods: A registry of childhood Graves’ disease was
established at our centre to collect cases from four districts in Hong
Kong. Confirmed cases of Graves’ disease who resided in any of the four
districts were used to calculate the incidence for the study period between
1989 and 1998.
Results: One hundred and
eighteen Chinese children under 15 years of age had a confirmed diagnosis
of Graves’ disease during the study period from January 1989 to December
1998. There were 11 boys and
107 girls giving a male to female ratio of 1:9.7. The overall incidence rates were 3.2/100000/year and
6.5/100000/year for the two periods 1989-93 and 1994-98, respectively. The incidence rates for girls have
increased significantly (P<0.001)
from 3.8/100000/year in 1989 to 14.1/100000/year in 1998.
Conclusion: This study confirms the high incidence of
childhood Graves’ disease in Hong Kong and documents in increasing trend
for girls. Further studies are
required to reveal possible genetic or environmental factors responsible
for such epidemiology in Hong Kong Chinese children.