Dupuytren's disease--initial symptoms, age of onset and spontaneous course.

647 men and 254 women with Dupuytren's disease of the hands were questioned about how, where and when the disease had started. Usually the disease started in the right hand, and nodules in the ulnar part of the palm were the first symptom in 90%. In 10% of the cases with bilateral disease, it started simultaneously in both hands. One woman and two men noticed the first symptom before 10 years of age. In about 50% of the men, the disease started between 40-59 years of age (women 40-69 years). In men the contracture increased rather constantly during the first twenty years, followed by a stationary phase from about 20 to thirty-five years of duration, whereafter it definitely decreased. In women the disease increased gradually with the duration of the disease.