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. 2023 Jul 25;18:211. doi: 10.1186/s13023-023-02811-5

Table 2.

Rates of skeletal and non-skeletal complications among ACH cases vs controls (CPRD cohort)

Complications by body system category Specific complications
Category n, ER per 100PY* RR (95% CI) Specific complication n, ER per 100PY* RR (95% CI)
Cases (N = 541) Controls (N = 2052) Cases (N = 541) Controls (N = 2052)
All non-skeletal 3612, 73.92 9903, 41.05 1.80 (1.59–2.03)**
Developmental 41, 0.84 23, 0.10 8.84 (4.18–18.72)** Developmental delay 16, 0.33 9, 0.04 8.80 (3.02–25.68)**
Speech delay 20, 0.41 13, 0.05 7.61 (3.03–19.13)**
Motor delay 5, 0.10  < 5, NC NC
Neurological 228, 4.67 241, 1.00 4.67 (3.21–6.80)** Incontinence/neurogenic bladder or bowel 87, 1.78 78, 0.32 5.54 (3.56–8.63)**
Paraplegia/parathesia 51, 1.04 55, 0.23 4.58 (2.55–8.22)**
Seizures/epilepsy 39, 0.80 80, 0.33 2.41 (0.95–6.11)
Dementia 5, 0.10 24, 0.10 1.02 (0.35–2.98)
Hydrocephalus/ventriculomegaly 42, 0.86 0, 0.00 Cases only
Myelopathy  < 5, NC  < 5, NC NC
Failure to thrive  < 5, NC  < 5, NC NC
Subdural haemorrhage/haematoma  < 5, NC  < 5, NC NC
Skeletal 459, 9.39 595, 2.47 3.83 (3.02–4.85) Spinal stenosis/cord compression 138, 2.82 22, 0.09 30.52 (16.28 – 57.19)**
Spinal deformities 60, 1.23 13, 0.05 22.78 (9.99–51.97)**
Leg deformity (including genu varum) 15, 0.31 5, 0.02 14.39 (5.45–37.99)**
Falls 105, 2.15 191, 0.79 2.73 (1.84–4.04)**
Osteoporosis/osteopenia/reduced BMD 39, 0.80 72, 0.30 2.69 (1.44–5.05)**
Arthritis/osteoarthritis 95, 1.94 291, 1.21 1.65 (1.17–2.31)**
Craniocervical stenosis 7, 0.14 0, 0.00 Cases only
Cauda equina syndrome  < 5, NC  < 5, NC NC
ENT 517, 10.58 844, 3.50 2.98 (2.43–3.65)** Hearing loss/deafness 101, 2.07 143, 0.59 3.50 (2.50–4.89)**
Enlarged tonsils 13, 0.27 18, 0.07 3.34 (1.26–8.86)**
Otitis media 365, 7.47 565, 2.34 3.11 (2.45–3.94)**
Voice abnormalities 8, 0.16 16, 0.07 2.47 (0.93–6.57)
Sinusitis 25, 0.51 101, 0.42 1.24 (0.71–2.16)
Tracheomalacia/bronchomalacia  < 5, NC 0, 0.00 Cases only
Middle ear dysfunction/disorder  < 5, NC  < 5, NC NC
Respiratory*** 144, 2.95 250, 1.04 2.84 (1.94–4.17)** Apnoea/sleep disordered breathing 47, 0.96 9, 0.04 25.81 (10.00–66.60)**
Sleep disorder 97, 1.99 241, 1.00 1.98 (1.23–3.19)
Metabolic 326, 6.67 984, 4.08 1.65 (1.24–2.18)** Obesity 213, 4.36 424, 1.76 2.59 (2.26–2.97)**
Hyperlipidaemia 43, 0.88 157, 0.65 1.36 (0.88–2.10)
Diabetes 94, 1.92 461, 1.91 1.00 (0.49–2.06)
Mental health 377, 7.72 1156, 4.79 1.62 (1.21–2.17)** Self-harm/suicidal ideation 9, 0.18 12, 0.05 3.71 (1.17–11.77)**
ADD/ADHD/adjustment disorder 7, 0.14 10, 0.04 3.44 (1.13–10.51)**
Depression/anxiety 301, 6.16 991, 4.11 1.51 (1.09–2.08)**
Substance dependence/abuse 37, 0.76 131, 0.54 1.40 (0.62–3.18)
‘Other’ mental health issues 23, 0.47 12, 0.05 9.07 (1.99–41.30)**
Cardiovascular 565, 11.56 2359, 9.78 1.17 (0.92–1.49) Stroke 7, 0.14 23, 0.10 1.56 (0.65–3.74)
Chest pain/angina 194, 3.97 760, 3.15 1.25 (0.96–1.63)
Hypertension 321, 6.57 1367, 5.67 1.15 (0.80–1.65)
Coronary disease 36, 0.74 156, 0.65 1.14 (0.57–2.28)
Myocardial infarction 7, 0.14 53, 0.22 0.66 (0.28–1.58)
Other 1440, 29.47 4049, 16.78 1.76 (1.52–2.03)** Pain 1138, 23.29 3047, 12.63 1.84 (1.58–2.15)**
Gastrointestinal issues 208, 4.26 622, 2.58 1.66 (1.31–2.09)**
Headache 75, 1.53 264, 1.09 1.41 (0.99–2.03)
Sexual health/gynaecological issues 19, 0.39 116, 0.48 0.79 (0.38–1.63)

ACH Achondroplasia; ADD Attention deficit disorder; ADHD Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; BMD Bone mineral density; CI Confidence interval; CPRD Clinical Practice Research Database; ENT Ear, nose and throat; ER Event rate, N Total number of individuals; n Number of cases of complication of interest; NC Not calculated (due to small cell size); PY Person years; RR Rate ratio

*Where the number of patients was reported as an integer of more than 0 but less than 5, this has been stated as < 5 due to CPRD reporting requirements

**Statistically significant result (α = 0.05)

***Sleep disorder and apnoea/sleep disordered breathing represent two distinct Read codes; given limited information on what complications would fall under each category, results for these categories have been presented separately