Registries have played a critical part in collating and reporting our collective experience and understanding of IEI. Many European countries contribute to their own national registries. The French National Reference Centre of Primary Immunodeficiencies (CEREDIH) was established in 2005. The UKPID registry was founded in 2008, and the German PID-NET registry was launched in 2009.
SJH, Dublin, is the largest adult hospital in Republic of Ireland, with a capacity of 1010 beds and an estimated catchment population for immunology referrals of 2,241,639 people. The Regional Immunology Service in Belfast serves a catchment population of 1,893,667 people and operates from within The Royal Hospitals, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, which has a combined capacity of 1317 adult beds. Both centres offer specialist immunology services in both primary and secondary immunodeficiencies, allergy, and vasculitis, and have close collegiate ties. Both centres contribute to the ESID registry, and the Regional Immunology Service in Belfast also contributes to the UKPID registry.
In 2005, Abuzakouk and Feighery [7] published the first report on IEI in the Republic of Ireland. Being based in SJH, Dublin, the authors drew on their own local IEI database to draft the report, and also collected data using a questionnaire that was submitted to hospitals nationally. Their data included both adult and paediatric patients. They identified a total of 115 patients with IEI. Antibody deficiencies (n=52) made up the majority, comprising 28 cases of common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) and 25 cases of X-linked agammaglobulinaemia. Complement deficiency was the second most frequently established diagnosis with 32 cases. Using these data, the authors calculated a minimum Republic of Ireland national prevalence of 2.9/100,000 population. The authors acknowledged that their data likely underestimated the true national prevalence of IEI at the time due to under recognition of IEI in centres without immunology specialist services and the fact that many patients may not have been captured using a questionnaire method of data collection.
The first report on IEI from the Regional Immunology Service, Belfast, was published by Edgar et al in 2014 [10] as part of a report of the first 4 years of activity of the UKPID registry. Eighty-two patients, both adult and paediatric, were registered at the Royal Hospitals at the time. Using a reported population of Northern Ireland of 1,840,500 people at the time [11], this equated to a minimum IEI prevalence in Northern Ireland of 4.46/100,000 population.
As such, the reported prevalence of IEI in both Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland has increased significantly since the publication of these first reports. In the Republic of Ireland, the minimum prevalence of IEI has risen from 2.9/100,000 in 2005 to 7.09/100,000 in 2020. In Northern Ireland, IEI prevalence has increased from 4.46/100,000 in 2014 to 10.93/100,000 in 2020. This rise in prevalence is probably due to a combination of better diagnostics, more robust referral pathways, and a wider recognition of the importance of recording and contributing data to international IEI registries.
IEI Prevalence
As of 1st May 2020, the minimum adult prevalence of IEI was 8.85/100,000 in Ireland. To put this in context, the Irish prevalence of motor neuron disease is 3.3-4.82/100,000 [12,13], haemophilia B (in patients ≥17 years of age) is 7.92/100,000 population [14], and cystic fibrosis (in patients ≥18 years of age) is 14.99/100,000 [15].
Most countries publish data in combined paediatric and adult datasets. For example, the latest minimum IEI prevalence in the UK of 5.90/100,000 includes both adult and paediatric patients [16]. Other countries have published combined adults and paediatric datasets while also providing the number of adult patients ≥18 years of age with IEI in their reports, allowing us to extrapolate an adult minimum prevalence based on that country’s population. For example, Germany has reported a combined adult and paediatric minimum IEI prevalence of 2.72/100,000, but also published the number of living adult patients with IEI ≥18 years of age (n=1229) and the total population of Germany at the time of the report (n=82,576,900), implying a minimum adult IEI prevalence in Germany of 1.49/100,000 [17]. Similarly, the Swiss National Registry for Primary Immunodeficiencies reported a living adult IEI patient number of 229 patients ≥18 years of age, allowing us to infer a minimum adult IEI prevalence of 2.85/100,000 (using the 2014 Swiss population of 8.04 million in their report) [18]. France estimates a total minimum IEI prevalence of 11/100,000 and an adult minimum IEI prevalence of 6.7/100,000 [19].
The Irish adult minimum IEI prevalence is therefore higher than that of the UK, France, Germany, and Switzerland when compared to both adult-only or combined adult and paediatric prevalence data.
Antibody deficiencies accounted for the majority of IEI in Ireland, with a minimum prevalence of 5.88/100,000. Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) was the most common IEI (2.93/100,000), followed by HAE (1.04/100,000), unclassified antibody deficiency (0.80/100,000), selective IgA deficiency (0.75/100,000), agammaglobulinaemia (0.68/100,000), specific antibody deficiency (0.31/100,000) and IgG subclass deficiency (0.19/100,000).
These data likely still underestimate the true prevalence of IEI in Ireland, as no immunology specialist centres in the Republic of Ireland other than SJH in Dublin currently contribute data to the ESID registry. Indeed, we know via personal communications that there are an additional 558 patients with IEI attending other hospitals in the Republic of Ireland that have yet to be registered on the ESID registry. These informal data include: 139 patients with CVID; 109 patients with Specific IgG deficiency (SPAD); 60 patients with unclassified antibody deficiency; 42 patients with HAE; and 6 patients with agammaglobulinaemia [Keogan M, Tormey V, Leahy T, O’ Leary, P. Personal communication]. Using these data in combination with registered ESID data, there are at least 732 patients with IEI in the Republic of Ireland, suggesting a prevalence of 14.71/100,000 population in the Republic of Ireland, and a combined IEI prevalence on the island of Ireland of 13.87/100,000 population.
Presenting Symptom(s)
Traditional teaching has emphasised the concept of recurrent infection as the hallmark of IEI. It is now recognised that autoimmune and autoinflammatory manifestations (referred to collectively as immune dysregulation) frequently herald IEI. In a retrospective review of the French IEI registry, 26.2% of patients had demonstrated manifestations of immune dysregulation at some point in their lifetime [20]. A recent report on the presenting manifestations in 16,486 patients with IEI found that 68% of patients presented with infections only; 9% presented with immune dysregulation only, and 9% with a combination of both [21]. In our report, only 220 of 395 patients with IEI (55.70%) presented exclusively with infection-related symptoms; 243 (61.52%) presented with infection and/or other symptoms; 17 patients (4.30%) presented with infection and immune dysregulation simultaneously, and 28 patients (7.09%) presented with manifestations of immune dysregulation alone in the absence of a history of infection. Eight patients (2.03%) presented with syndromal manifestations, 1 patient (0.25%) presented with malignancy and infection simultaneously, while 13 patients (3.29%) had no IEI symptoms at all at the time of initial evaluation. Angioedema was the presenting feature in 42 patients (10.63%), all of whom had a diagnosis of HAE or acquired angioedema. These data imply that an infection-focused approach to diagnosing IEI in Ireland would miss up to 38.48% of cases of IEI.
Diagnostic Delay
Diagnostic delay can affect outcome negatively in IEI [22-26]. Median diagnostic delay for all patients with IEI was 3 years (IQR = 1-8.5 years); in CVID 4 years (IQR = 1-7 years); and in agammaglobulinaemia 1 year (IQR = 0-3 years). In terms of IUIS classification [1], median diagnostic delay was lowest for immunodeficiencies affecting cellular and humoral immunity (0 years) and highest for autoinflammatory disorders (25 years). The median diagnostic delay for predominantly antibody deficiencies was 3 years.
It is worth pointing out that lengthy diagnostic delays occasionally occurred with good explanation. For example, a diagnostic delay of 33 years in a case of Mendelian susceptibility to mycobacterial diseases (MSMD) was due simply to the fact that this condition was first described when the patient was in their thirties. A diagnosis of CVID was changed to activated PI3K-delta syndrome (APDS) after its first description in 2015 and when genetic testing became available.
Diagnostic delay is often defined differently, making comparison between reports difficult. For example, the French IEI registry (CEREDIH) defines diagnostic delay as the time between birth and first clinical diagnosis of IEI [27], giving a median diagnostic delay for CVID of 6 years and median diagnostic delay for agammaglobulinaemia of 1 year. On the other hand, the German National Registry of Primary Immunodeficiencies defined diagnostic delay as the time elapsed between the first presenting symptom(s) and the date of either genetic or clinical diagnosis [17]. The Swiss National Registry for Primary Immunodeficiencies used a similar definition [18]. This is the definition that we too have adopted for this report, because the ESID registry records data regarding the date of first symptoms of IEI and the date of clinical diagnosis. Comparing data using this shared definition of diagnostic delay, the median diagnostic delay for CVID in Ireland was 4 years, in Germany 3 years, and in Switzerland 5.95 years. Data pertaining to diagnostic delay for other individual disorders was not readily available.
Immunoglobulin Data
A total of 281 patients were recorded to have received immunoglobulin replacement therapy at both sites. While the majority of these treatments were previously delivered in the hospital setting, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted a widespread transition to home therapy. One hundred and thirty four patients (47.69%) received immunoglobulin therapy at home at the time of writing. A significant percentage of patients attending services for immunoglobulin therapy had secondary antibody deficiencies (21.35%, n=60).
Genetic Testing
Genetic testing can enable faster and more accurate diagnosis, and improves outcomes in IEI [28]. Genetic testing was employed in 138 patients (34.94%) in Ireland, in whom 58 pathogenic or likely pathogenic mutations were identified (14.68%). CVID has a notoriously low yield when it comes to genetic testing and identification of pathogenic genetic defects. In the UK, only 1.78% of patients with CVID who underwent genetic testing had an identifiable genetic defect [16]. In our cohort, 45 of 131 patients (34.35%) with CVID had undergone genetic testing; only 9 patients (20% of those tested, 6.87% of all patients with CVID) were found to have pathogenic or likely pathogenic mutations.
Secondary Immunodeficiency
A total of 67 patients with secondary immunodeficiency attended both sites, of whom 61 were under active follow-up (25 in SJH and 36 in Northern Ireland). Minimum prevalence of secondary immunodeficiency was 1.12/100,000 in SJH and 1.90/100,000 in Northern Ireland, with a combined minimum prevalence of 1.48/100,000, making it second only to CVID in minimum prevalence. Six patients with secondary immunodeficiency (8.96%) had died since being registered on UKPID. Forty two females and 25 males were treated at both centres for secondary immunodeficiency. Median diagnostic delay was 1 year (IQR 1-3 years). A total of 60 patients with secondary immunodeficiency received immunoglobulin replacement therapy at both centres (representing 21.35% of the 281 patients receiving treatment).
The vast majority of patients with secondary immunodeficiency presented with infection-related symptoms (95.52%). A small minority presented with immune dysregulation (2.99%) or other symptoms (1.49%).
Data regarding the underlying cause of secondary immunodeficiency was not readily available for patients in Northern Ireland on the UKPID registry. In the SJH cohort, 15 patients had steroid-induced hypogammaglobulinaemia; other patients had secondary immunodeficiency as a consequence of chemotherapy (n=5); rituximab (n=1); and clozapine (n=1); the remaining underlying aetiologies were not readily available.