Incidence and prevalence of recurrent respiratory papillomatosis among children in Atlanta and Seattle

The incidence and prevalence of recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP) for children aged <18 years were estimated in 2 US cities, Atlanta and Seat tle, in 1996, All otolaryngologists in a 24-county area in metropolitan Atl anta (101 physicians) and an 8-county area in metropolitan Seattle (139 phy sicians) agreed to participate in the study. Medical record chart abstracti on was performed only for children with documented current residence in the study area (21 patients in Atlanta and 14 patients in Seattle). The incide nce rate for juvenile RRP was 1.11/100,000 population in Atlanta and 0.36/1 00,000 in Seattle. The prevalence rate was 2.59/100,000 population in Atlan ta and 1.69/100,000 in Seattle. In neither city did prevalences differ sign ificantly when stratified by sex or race. Extrapolation of these estimates to the US population suggests that 80-1500 incident cases and 700-3000 prev alent cases of juvenile RRP will occur in the United States during 1999.