How common are the progeroid syndromes?
Precise figures depend on the individual syndromes, but all progeroid diseases are very rare. Classic Hutchinson-Gilford syndrome has had only about 100 cases reported in the past century. Werners Syndrome is far more frequent, but still has affected only a reported 1300 cases in the past hundred years. All of the progeroid syndromes combined affect only a few thousand people in a century. By comparison, other genetic diseases, such as congenital predisposition to breast cancer, are downright commonplace. Progeroid diseases are not restricted to any ethnic group, although some syndromes are more common in certain ethnicities, but appear all over the world in many different people groups.
