Prevalence of pelvic Paget's disease of bone in the United States

The objective of this article was to estimate the prevalence of Paget's dis ease of bone in the United States from a statistically derived sample of th e general population. Pelvic radiographs obtained in the First National Hea lth and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES-I) were reviewed for the prese nce of Paget's disease. Age, sex, and geographic distribution of Paget's di sease of the pelvic region were determined. The overall prevalence of Paget 's disease in the United States was estimated. Pelvic Paget's disease is es timated to be present in 0.71 + 0.18% of the radiographs of the general pop ulation. The disease was higher in frequency in people who were in the olde r decades of life with the highest prevalence of 2.32 + 0.54 % in the 65- t o 74-year-old people. There is a slight male predominance in the 45- to 74- year age group. The regional distribution suggests the highest prevalence i n the Northeast (1.48 + 0.52%) with the lowest prevalence in the South (0.2 6+0.25%). The prevalence was equal in white people and black people. An est imate of the overall prevalence of Paget's disease in the United States was at least 1% and perhaps as much as 2% of the general population with near equal sex distribution and the highest prevalence in the northeastern Unite d States.