Abstract
Background
Whether ethnicity impacts on epidemiology, presentation, management, and outcome is unknown in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP).
Methods
We studied the prevalence/incidence of CIDP in Asian (Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi) and white subjects in Birmingham, UK, and associations of ethnicity with demographics/deprivation/phenotype/treatment and outcomes.
Results
On 10th July 2025, CIDP prevalence was 6.18 per 100 000 (95% CI: 4.66–8.05). Prevalence was lower in Asian (Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi) compared to white subjects (2.64 per 100 000 vs. 10.15 per 100 000; RR: 0.260, 95% CI: 0.111–0.609; p < 0.001). Prevalence in ≥ 50-year-olds was lower in Asian (Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi) compared to white subjects (8.00 per 100 000 vs. 46.68 per 100 000; RR: 0.172; 95% CI: 0.061–0.479; p < 0.001) but similar in 18–49-year-olds (2.48 per 100 000 vs. 1.83 per 100 000; RR: 1.355, 95% CI: 0.273–6.712; p = 0.661). Mean incidence of CIDP was 0.54 per 100 000 per year (95% CI: 0.404–0.713). CIDP incidence was lower in Asian (Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi) than in white subjects (0.24 per 100 000 per year vs. 0.86 per 100 000 per year, RR: 0.278; 95% CI: 0.118–0.654; p = 0.002). Asian (Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi) ethnicity was independently associated with younger age (p = 0.037), greater social deprivation (p = 0.045), and noncompliance to treatment (p = 0.016). No association of Asian (Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi) ethnicity was found with CIDP sub-type, diagnostic delay, pretreatment disability, access to high-cost therapies, or posttreatment outcomes.
Conclusions
Subjects of Asian (Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi) ethnicity in the UK may have a lower risk of CIDP after 50 years of age, but an equivalent risk between 18 and 49 years, compared to white subjects. They may present younger, be more socially deprived, and be more likely noncompliant to treatment, compared to white subjects.
Whether ethnicity impacts on epidemiology, presentation, management, and outcome is unknown in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP).
Methods
We studied the prevalence/incidence of CIDP in Asian (Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi) and white subjects in Birmingham, UK, and associations of ethnicity with demographics/deprivation/phenotype/treatment and outcomes.
Results
On 10th July 2025, CIDP prevalence was 6.18 per 100 000 (95% CI: 4.66–8.05). Prevalence was lower in Asian (Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi) compared to white subjects (2.64 per 100 000 vs. 10.15 per 100 000; RR: 0.260, 95% CI: 0.111–0.609; p < 0.001). Prevalence in ≥ 50-year-olds was lower in Asian (Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi) compared to white subjects (8.00 per 100 000 vs. 46.68 per 100 000; RR: 0.172; 95% CI: 0.061–0.479; p < 0.001) but similar in 18–49-year-olds (2.48 per 100 000 vs. 1.83 per 100 000; RR: 1.355, 95% CI: 0.273–6.712; p = 0.661). Mean incidence of CIDP was 0.54 per 100 000 per year (95% CI: 0.404–0.713). CIDP incidence was lower in Asian (Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi) than in white subjects (0.24 per 100 000 per year vs. 0.86 per 100 000 per year, RR: 0.278; 95% CI: 0.118–0.654; p = 0.002). Asian (Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi) ethnicity was independently associated with younger age (p = 0.037), greater social deprivation (p = 0.045), and noncompliance to treatment (p = 0.016). No association of Asian (Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi) ethnicity was found with CIDP sub-type, diagnostic delay, pretreatment disability, access to high-cost therapies, or posttreatment outcomes.
Conclusions
Subjects of Asian (Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi) ethnicity in the UK may have a lower risk of CIDP after 50 years of age, but an equivalent risk between 18 and 49 years, compared to white subjects. They may present younger, be more socially deprived, and be more likely noncompliant to treatment, compared to white subjects.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e70065 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Journal of the Peripheral Nervous System |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Early online date | 29 Sept 2025 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Dec 2025 |
Bibliographical note
Copyright © 2025 The Author(s). Journal of the Peripheral Nervous System published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Peripheral Nerve Society.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Keywords
- Asian
- Bangladeshi
- Indian
- Pakistani
- chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy
- epidemiology
- ethnicity