What are Dupuytren’s Contracture Risk Factors?
Although many have never heard of Dupuytren’s, hand surgeon Keith Segalman sees patients with the condition every day in his surgical practice at the Curtis National Hand Center and Greater Chesapeake Hand Specialists in Maryland. While the condition is relatively common, its precise origin remains a mystery. “We’ve detected many associations, but no clear cause,” says Segalman. Here’s what experts know about Dupuytren’s: • Dupuytren’s is hereditary. “The disease runs in families,” says surgeon Taizoon Baxamusa, a spokesperson for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and an associate clinical professor of orthopaedic surgery at the University of Illinois in Chicago. This doesn’t mean that because your father had Dupuytren’s, that you’ll automatically develop it too. But your risk is definitely higher, according to Segalman. • Ancestry plays a key role. Dupuytren’s disease is seen most often in people of Northern European (English, Scottish, Irish, Dutch, French) or Scandinavian
