Epidemiology

The overall prevalence and incidence of SBS are difficult to assess accurately in the absence of national registries for SBS, but they can be estimated using parenteral nutrition (PN) registries. Using PN registry data may underestimate the prevalence and incidence of SBS because not all patients with SBS require PN, and approximately 50% to 70% of patients who initially require PN are eventually weaned off it.[3][4] A study in Finland found the prevalence of intestinal failure (including individuals with conditions other than SBS) to be 11.7 per million of the population, which is similar to other western European countries.[5] 

In the early 1990s, the Oley Foundation home PN registry for the US estimated that approximately 40,000 patients needed PN annually, with 30% of these requiring PN for SBS or its associated conditions (e.g., radiation enteritis).[6]

A number of epidemiologic studies have focused on SBS in infants. In one US study of over 12,000 infants, the incidence of surgery-induced SBS was 0.7%.[7] A study from Italy found an incidence of 0.1% in over 30,000 live births, and 0.5% among very low-weight preterm infants.[8]

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