[Hydatidosis in Catalonia. Study of patients younger than 20 years of age (1977-1985)].

To evaluate the epidemiological features of human hydatidosis during the first two decades of life, and to assess whether it exists autochthonously in Catalonia, we analysed the patients younger than 20 years who had been diagnosed and/or treated between 1977 and 1985 in 46 hospitals (representing 95% of the hospital beds in Catalonia where surgical therapy for hydatid disease is available). Ninety-five cases were detected in 87 patients. The mean yearly incidence rate was 0.53/100,000. In 81 patients hydatidosis was diagnosed for the first time in their lives, in 11 for the second time, and in three for the third time. Among the first there was a predominance of exclusively pulmonary cysts (41.9%) over those with exclusively hepatic localization (32%) and with simultaneous hepatic and pulmonary localization (13%). Surgical operations were undertaken in 112 instances, with a mortality rate of 2.2%. It was estimated, by the actuarial method, that the likelihood of a second diagnosis of hydatid disease after the surgical removal of all the cysts found at the time of the first diagnosis was 4.2% two years after the last operation, 9.5% after four years, and 24.6% after 7 years. The incidence rate in the immigrant population was 3.03 times higher than the recorded one for Catalonia. Sixteen patients born in Catalonia reported not to have ever traveled out of it; this information was confirmed by the separate parents report. This would confirm the occurrence of autochthonous hydatid disease.