Do Age-related Differences in the Incidence of Mumps Deafness Reflect a True Difference or a Misclassification of Mumps Deafness?

Abstract

We read the article by Takagi et al with great interest and appreciate their effort to assess the incidence of mumps deafness in mumps cases. 1 In a claim-based database study, the authors found that the incidence of mumps deafness was 8.4 times higher in adolescents and adults than in children (73.6 per 10,000 patients for adolescents and adults and 6.6 for children). However, the estimate might be invalid because of the definitions of mumps and mumps deafness used.

Response to Letter to the Editor: Do Age-related Differences in the Incidence of Mumps Deafness Reflect a True Difference or a Misclassification of Mumps Deafness?

“…We thank the editor for the opportunity to respond to the comments and concerns raised by Dr Takashi Fujiwara and Dr Yohei Maeda 1 with regard to our paper. 2 …”