Prevalence of pemphigus incidence in the Bhuj, Kutch, Gujarat: a cross-sectional study

Authors

  • Devendra Parmar Department of Dermatology, Gujarat Adani Institute of Medical Science, Bhuj, Gujarat, India
  • Keyur J. Patel Government Medical College and New Civil Hospital, Surat, Gujarat, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/issn.2455-4529.IntJResDermatol20175368

Keywords:

Pemphigus, Vulgaris, Epidemiology, Bhuj district

Abstract

Background: Pemphigus is a group of rare skin disorders that cause blisters and sores on the skin or mucous membranes, such as in the mouth or on the genitals. In Brazil, the prevalence of the disorder is 3.4% in regions such as the Amerindian reservation of Limão Verde and approximately 15,000 patients are known to have pemphigus foliaceus. This prompted us to conduct a study to estimate the incidence of pemphigus in the central Bhuj district of the state of Gujarat in India.

Methods: The present study was planned and conducted between January 2016 to December 2016. The entire team of dermatologists licensed in the district were included in the study and full efforts were made to reach out to them. All the participating dermatologists were asked to fill up a simple perform prepared by the experts in the field. The Performa included the details like date, investigations required for pemphigus, diagnosis based for pemphigus.

Results: The total population of Bhuj district is estimated to be 5 millions. At the end of the study period that is one year, all the collected performa from the licensed dermatologist were evaluated and results were prepared accordingly. A total of 24 patients who fulfilled all the inclusion criteria were included in the study.

Conclusions: This original research proves that the incidence of pemphigus in Bhuj district was 7.2 per million in the period of one year. This incidence is much higher than the incidence rates reported from the Germany where only 14 cases were reported over a period of 8 years. This study does give us a preliminary idea about the incidence of this rare disease in this geographic area.

References

Scott JE, Ahmed AR. The blistering diseases. Medical Clin North America. 1998;82:1239-83.

Scully C, Muzio LL. Oral mucosal diseases: mucous membrane pemphigoid. Br J Oral Maxillofacial Surg. 2008;46:358-66.

Sitaru C, Zillikens D. Mechanisms of blister induction by autoantibodies. Experimental Dermatol. 2005;14:861-75.

Grando SA. Pemphigus autoimmunity: hypotheses and realities. Autoimmunity. 2012;45:7-35.

Kitajima Y, Aoyama Y. A perspective of pemphigus from bedside and laboratory-bench. Clinical Rev Aller Immunol. 2007;33:57-66.

Ioannides D, Apalla Z, Lazaridou E, Rigopoulos D. Evaluation of mycophenolate mofetil as a steroid-sparing agent in pemphigus: a randomized, prospective study. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2012;26:855–60.

Tucker DK. Pemphigus Vulgaris: Pathomechanisms of a Desmosomal Disease and Protection by Plakophilin-1. Emory University, 2013.

Lever WF. Pemphigus. Medicine. 1953;32:1-123.

Korman N. Pemphigus. J Am Acad Dermatol. 1988;18:1219-38.

Ruocco V, Ruocco E, Schiavo AL, Brunetti G, Guerrera LP, Wolf R. Pemphigus: etiology, pathogenesis, and inducing or triggering factors: facts and controversies. Clin Dermatol. 2013;31:374-81.

Edelson RL. Pemphigus—decoding the cellular language of cutaneous autoimmunity. Mass Medical Soc, 2000.

Sagi L, Baum S, Agmon-Levin N, Sherer Y, Katz BSP, Barzilai O, et al. Autoimmune bullous diseases: the spectrum of infectious agent antibodies and review of the literature. Autoimmunity Rev. 2011;10:527-35.

Robinson ND, Hashimoto T, Amagai M, Chan LS. The new pemphigus variants. J Am Acad Dermatol. 1999;40:649-71.

Bystryn JC, Rudolph JL. Pemphigus. The Lancet 2005;366:61-73.

Velez AMA, Calle J, Howard MS. Autoimmune epidermal blistering diseases. Analysis. 2013;3:21.

Chowdhury J, Datta PK, Chowdhury SN, Das NK. A clinicopathological study of pemphigus in Eastern India with special reference to direct immunofluorescence. Indian J Dermatol. 2016;61:288.

Alcaide-Martin A, Gallardo-Perez M, Castillo-Munoz R, Fernández MM, Herrera-Ceballos E. Epidemiologic study of 20 cases of pemphigus at Hospital Clinico Universitario Virgen de la Victoria de Malaga, Spain. Actas Dermo-Sifiliográficas (English Ed). 2010;101:524-33.

Downloads

Published

2017-11-23

Issue

Section

Original Research Articles