How Common is Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy?

Recent studies in the United States, Europe and Asia suggest that HCM is more common than was previously believed. It is now estimated that somewhere between about 1 in 500 to 1 in 1000 individuals within the general population have the disease. These figures relate to adults in whom the disease recognized by echocardiography; many children and other adults could carry a mutant gene for HCM and be completely unaware of that fact. HCM appears to occur throughout the world with most of the scientific interest and reports from North America (U.S. and Canada), Japan, and Europe (United Kingdom, Italy, France, Germany, and Switzerland), although reports have also come from South America, Israel and Australia/New Zealand. HCM appears to be remarkably similar with regard to presentation, heart structure and prognosis in patients from these diverse areas of the world. One relatively minor exception is the Japanese version of HCM where the apical form of the disease (with wall thickening localized to the tip of the left ventricle) seems to be more common than in other countries -- a difference that may be due to unique racial and environmental factors.

Adapted from Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy: For Patients, Their Families, and Interested Physicians, by Barry J. Maron, MD, et al., Copyright 2001, with permission from Futura Media Services, Inc., Armonk, New York