Incidence of IgA vasculitis in the adult Slovenian population.

BACKGROUND

IgA vasculitis (IgAV) is assumed to be uncommon in adults.

OBJECTIVES

To determine the incidence rate of histologically proven IgAV in the adult Slovenian population.

METHODS

A retrospective chart review of adult patients diagnosed with IgAV was performed at the departments of rheumatology, nephrology, infectious diseases and dermatovenereology at an integrated secondary/tertiary university teaching hospital. In order to avoid missing miscoded cases, the Institute of Pathology, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, provided a list of all patients with an IgAV-compatible histological pattern on biopsy. The annual incidence rate of histologically proven IgAV was calculated.

RESULTS

Eighty-one new cases of IgAV were identified from June 2010 to June 2013. The estimated annual incidence rate of IgAV was 5·1 per 100,000 adults [95% confidence interval (CI) 3·4-7·4]; in men it was 6·1 per 100,000 (95% CI 3·9-10·6) and in women it was 3·7 per 100,000 (95% CI 1·8-6·8).

CONCLUSIONS

Although we only included histologically proven cases of IgAV, the annual incidence rate of 5·1 per 100,000 adults is 3-6-times higher than previously reported.