Decline in Infantile Hypertrophic Pyloric Stenosis in Germany in 2000–2008

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE:The incidence of infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (IHPS) is highly variable over time and geographic regions. A decline in IHPS incidence was recently reported in Sweden, the United States, Denmark, and Scotland. In Sweden, the IHPS decline seemed to be concurrent with a declining incidence in sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), which suggested a common cause; the latter was attributed to campaigns against the prone sleeping position. We investigated the time course of the IHPS incidence in all German federal states (N = 16) between 2000 and 2008. We examined correlations between the IHPS incidence and the SIDS incidence.METHODS:Data were extracted from the public report of health (Gesundheitsberichterstattung des Bundes). We collected the numbers of IHPS (International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision [ICD-10], code 40.0), SIDS (ICD-10, R95), and live births (LB; male/female) in each federal state for 2000–2008.RESULTS:The IHPS incidence declined in Germany from 2000 (3.2086/1000 LB [range: 1.67–5.33]) to 2008 (2.0175/1000 LB [1.74–3.72]; P = .005). The recorded incidence was highly variable in different federal states and over time. The SIDS incidence also declined during the same time period (2000, median: 0.759/1000 LB [interquartile range: 0.54–1.029]; 2008, median: 0.416/1000 LB [interquartile range: 0.285–0.6485]; P = .0255). However, the SIDS regional distribution was different from that of IHPS.CONCLUSIONS:The IHPS incidence declined by ∼38% nationwide. A parallel decline in SIDS displayed a different pattern in regional distribution; thus, a common cause was unlikely. The regional differences indicated that etiologic factors remained unresolved.