Could Early Onset of HS Affect Disease Severity?
Developing hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) at an earlier age appears to have no effect on characteristics or severity of the disease, according to a recent study.
Average reported age of onset of HS is between 20 and 24 years old. However, little data are available regarding the effects of early onset HS.
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To investigate this issue, researchers conducted a retrospective study of 166 patients with HS aged 12 to 64 years old (mean age 34.4±10.8 years). Researchers collected demographic data, including age, sex, body mass index (BMI) and smoking status, as well as disease characteristic data, including age of onset, Hurley stage, number of anatomic areas affected, and family history of HS. The researchers defined “early onset” as HS occurring at age 18 years or early.
Overall, 37 patients had HS Hurley stage 1, 101 had stage II, and 25 had stage III, and 58 patients reported early onset (35%). The mean age of early onset was 15.4 years old, and patients with early onset were less often smokers than those with later onset.
No significant differences in gender, BMI, or family history of HS were observed between early onset and later onset. Further, after multiple regression analysis, early onset HS was not associated with disease severity or with the number of anatomic areas affected.
“In our patients, early onset HS had no distinct characteristics compared with later onset HS regarding gender, BMI status, family history of HS, or disease severity as assessed by the Hurley severity stage or with the number of affected body areas.”
—Michael Potts
Reference:
Dessinioti C, Antoniou C, Tzanetakou V, Zisimou C. A retrospective study of the characteristics of patients with early onset hidradenitis suppurativa [Presented at the 75th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology. Orlando, Florida. March 2017. https://www.aad.org/eposters/Submissions/getFile.aspx?id=4187&type=sub.