Epidemiology

The disease is a common chronic bone disorder seen in up to 2% of white adults older than 55 years and 8% of men and 5% of women over the age of 80 years (1).

• slightly more common in men than in women (1).
• unusual before the age of 40 years and the incidence doubles with every decade from the age of 50 years.

The highest prevalence of Paget’s disease in the world is seen in the UK.

• an estimated 144,000 men and 118,000 women have Paget's disease in the UK (1).

The disease is more common in Western and Southern Europe, North America, and Australasia. It is rare in the Nordic countries, China, Japan and the Arab Middle East.

However over the past decade, the prevalence of the disease is in decline particularly in countries where the incidence rate is high

• there are relatively few ‘incident’ cases which are mild and mostly occurring in the very elderly (2,3)

Reference:

• (1) Michou L, Brown JP. Emerging strategies and therapies for treatment of Paget's disease of bone. Drug Des Devel Ther. 2011;5:225-39.
• (2) Bastin S et al. Paget's disease of bone--becoming a rarity? Rheumatology (Oxford). 2009;48(10):1232-5.
• (3) Haddaway MJ et al. Effect of age and gender on the number and distribution of sites in Paget's disease of bone. Br J Radiol. 2007;80(955):532-6.