Prevalence of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance in a large population with annual medical check-ups in China
Jianhua Han, Jinuo Wang, Yuelun Zhang, Xinxin Cao, Daobin Zhou, Tengda Xu, Wei Su, Li J
Abstract
Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) is a clinically asymptomatic premalignant plasma cell disorder, which may develop to multiple myeloma (MM), light-chain amyloidosis, Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia, or other related malignancies 1 . The crude prevalence of MGUS varies from 0.05% to 6.1% among distinct population from different countries, which is influenced by race, age, sex, family history, immunosuppression, and pesticide exposure 2 . So far, many population-based studies of MGUS come from the white or black population living in Western and African countries. One of the largest population-based study in the USA showed that the prevalence of MGUS was 3.2% in the Caucasian general population aged 50 years 3 , while the rate was even higher in African-Americans to be 3.7% 4 . However, data on the epidemiology of MGUS remain largely undefined in Asians. Some populationbased studies among population from Thailand, Korea, and Hong Kong were relatively limited due to small sample sizes Therefore, we conducted this study to determine the prevalence and characteristics of MGUS among a large population with annual medical check-ups in a well-defined geographic area in China.