Estimate and Temporal Trends of Buerger Disease Hospitalizations in the United States

Abstract

Buerger disease, also known as thromboangiitis obliterans, is a nonatherosclerotic inflammatory segmental vascular disease which commonly involves small- and medium-sized blood vessels. 1 Olin JW. Thromboangiitis obliterans (Buerger's disease). N Engl J Med. 2000; 343: 864-869 Google Scholar The disease, which was first described in 1879, has a very strong association with tobacco use. 1 Olin JW. Thromboangiitis obliterans (Buerger's disease). N Engl J Med. 2000; 343: 864-869 Google Scholar ,2 Ohta T Ishioashi H Hosaka M Sugimoto I. Clinical and social consequences of Buerger disease. J Vasc Surg. 2004; 39: 176-180 Google Scholar Nevertheless, the etiology and exact pathophysiology of the disease remain unknown. 3 Fazeli B Ligi D Keramat S Maniscalco R Sharebiani H Mannello F. Recent updates and advances in Winiwarter-Buerger disease (thromboangiitis obliterans): biomolecular mechanisms, diagnostics and clinical consequences. Diagnostics (Basel). 2021; 11: 1736 Google Scholar Because of similarities in clinical presentation with atherosclerotic and other inflammatory vascular diseases, Buerger disease commonly poses a clinical conundrum. 4 Shinomiya S. Buerger's disease (thromboangiitis obliterans). Vasc Pathol. 1995; : 657-678 Google Scholar The disease has a strong predilection for certain demographics, including young age and male gender as well as certain ethnic groups including Asians and Ashkenazi Jews. 3 Fazeli B Ligi D Keramat S Maniscalco R Sharebiani H Mannello F. Recent updates and advances in Winiwarter-Buerger disease (thromboangiitis obliterans): biomolecular mechanisms, diagnostics and clinical consequences. Diagnostics (Basel). 2021; 11: 1736 Google Scholar The prevalence of Buerger disease varies geographically, with much higher prevalence among middle- and far-Eastern countries . 1 Olin JW. Thromboangiitis obliterans (Buerger's disease). N Engl J Med. 2000; 343: 864-869 Google Scholar However, contemporary reports regarding the current disease burden, particularly in the United States (US), are lacking. We investigated a large national database to estimate the contemporary national burden of hospitalized patients with Buerger disease.