Susceptibility
CRPS can strike at any age, but the mean age at diagnosis is 42. CRPS has been diagnosed in children as young as 2 years old. It affects both men and women; however, CRPS is 3 times more frequent in females than males. The number of reported CRPS cases among adolescents and young adults is increasing.
Investigators estimate that 2-5 percent of those with peripheral nerve injury, and 13-70 percent of those with hemiplegia (paralysis of one side of the body), will suffer from CRPS. In addition, some studies have indicated that cigarette smoking was strikingly present in patients and is statistically linked to RSD. In one study, 68% of patients versus 37% of hospitalized controls were found. This may be involved in its pathology by enhancing sympathetic activity, vasoconstriction, or by some other unknown neurotransmitter-related mechanism.
It is also theorized that certain people might be genetically predisposed to develop symptoms of RSD/CRPS after a significant or seemingly insignificant injury has been sustained. These tests are being performed by The Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome Association (RSDSA), American RSD Hope, and Richard G. Boles, M.D. Research began in October 2008, but the outcome has yet to be released to the medical community.
Read more about this topic: Complex Regional Pain Syndrome