gms | German Medical Science

Objective: Meralgia paresthetica (MP), a mononeuropathy of the lateral cutaneous femoral nerve (LCFN), was shown to occur in 32.6 per 100.000 patient years in a population based study between 1990 and 1999 in the United States of America. Since it is associated with diabetes mellitus (DM) and obesity, which are comorbidities with currently still increasing global prevalence, the prevalence of MP is expected to grow steadily in the coming years, as well. So far, no studies exist on the MP prevalence, patient characteristics and type of treatmen in Germany.

Methods: Data from patients with the International classification of disease (ICD) code G57.1 that were treated between 2005 and 2018 in disease related group (DRG) billing hospitals in Germany was analyzed. Ethical approval was granted by local authorities (EA1/275/20). The prevalence of MP, and patient characteristics in relation to patient age, comorbidities, as well as Operation and Procedure Classification (OPS) code were calculated.

Results: A median of 743 (687; 802) patients with MP as their main diagnosis were treated annually between 2005 and 2018 in hospitals in Germany. There was no increase over time in the prevalence of MP as main diagnosis. The prevalence of MP as a secondary diagnosis increased at a median annual rate of 81 patients (from 1365 to 1815). The rate related to 100.000 patients treated in German hospitals was stable between 3.9-4.6 % for main and 7.6-10.4 % for secondary MP diagnosis. As measured by 100.000 inhabitants, the rate of MP as main diagnosis remained stable (0.7-1%) but slightly increased for MP as secondary diagnosis from 1.7 to 2.2%. The median age of all patients with MP as a diagnosis was 52.6 years without obvious trends or significant differences between female and male patients. In 2018, the most frequent comorbidities were arterial hypertension (36.5 %), lipid metabolism disorder (12.3 %), DM (9.5 %), back pain (9.2 %) and depression (7.0 %). There was a trend towards a decrease of destructive nerve interventions (neurectomy) between 2005 and 2018 (8.3 % vs. 2.6 %, respectively). In 2018, decompressive surgery of the NCFL was performed in 21.9 % of hospitalized patients.

Conclusion: In-patient treatment numbers of patients with the main diagnosis of MP were relatively stable between 2005 and 2018 with a slight but subsecuent increase of patients with MP as secondary diagnosis. Numbers of destructive nerve interventions (neurectomy) decreased in that time-period.