epidemiology

Last reviewed 08/2021

Spontaneous pneumothorax is a significant global health problem, with a reported incidence of 18-28/100000 cases per annum for men and 1.2-6/100000 for women (1).

• the incidence of spontaneous pneumothorax in Minnesota, USA was 7/100,000 for men and 1/100,000 for women.

In UK, combined hospital admission rates for primary spontaneous pneumothorax  and secondary spontaneous pneumothorax have been reported as 16.7/100000 for men and 5.8/100000 for women, with corre-sponding mortality rates of 1.26/million and 0.62/million per annum between 1991 and 1995 (1).

Smoking causes an increased risk of a spontaneous pneumothorax (2):

• 9 fold increase in females
• 22 fold increase in males

The disease has a biphasic age distribution:

• primary pneumothorax peaking in those between the ages of 15 and 34
• secondary pneumothorax peaking in those aged more than 55 (2)

Reference:

• (1) MacDuff A et al. Management of spontaneous pneumothorax: British Thoracic Society Pleural Disease Guideline 2010. Thorax. 2010;65 Suppl 2:ii18-31
• (2) Bintcliffe O, Maskell N. Spontaneous pneumothorax. BMJ. 2014;348:g2928