Age of Diagnosis, Incidence and Prevalence of Recurrent Respiratory Papillomatosis – A South African Perspective

Abstract

Objectives

To determine the distribution of the age of onset of recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP) and to determine the incidence and prevalence of RRP in both adults and children in the Free State province of South Africa in order to provide data from a population in sub-Saharan African.

Design

Retrospective record review.

Participants

All patients with recurrent respiratory papillomatosis in the Free State province of South Africa between 2011 and 2015.

Main outcome measures

Distribution of the age of diagnosis of RRP and incidence and prevalence of RRP.

Results

The best fitting mixture distribution for the age of diagnosis of RRP was a two-component mixture of log-normal distributions. Within the first component (JoRRP), the age of diagnosis was significantly lower in patients with HPV11 disease (median 3.2 year) than those with HPV6 disease (median 5.6 years) (p=0.021), while in the second component (AoRRP), there was no significant difference in the age of diagnosis between HPV11 disease (30.7 year) and HPV6 disease (median 44.0 years) (p=0.0696).

The incidence and prevalence of JoRRP were 1.34/100000 population/year and 3.88/100000 population, respectively, while the incidence and prevalence of AoRRP were 0.18/100000 population/year and 0.38/100000 population, respectively.

Conclusion

RRP in the Free State province of South Africa is a disease with a predominantly juvenile onset, with AoRRP having a lower prevalence than in Europe. This is probably reflective of the situation in sub-Saharan Africa.

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