Pemphigus in Hartford County, Connecticut, from 1972 to 1977

An investigation of a possible cluster of pemphigus cases that were diagnosed in Hartford County, Connecticut, in 1977 provided data for estimating the incidence of this disease in a defined population for the years 1972 to 1977. The average annual incidence (new cases per population per year) estimated for the overall adult population (over the age of 20 years) was 0.42 cases per 100,000 people, whereas that for Jewish adults was 3.2 cases per 100,000. Thus, the results of this report both support the hypothesis that Jewish people are at higher risk than others for the development of pemphigus and provide a basis for comparison with the results of other studies of this disease.