IN REVIEWING the literature we have been able to find only 106 well-documented instances of Addison's disease in children under 15 years of age. Approximately over half of those were in adolescents and one quarter in infants. Uncomplicated Addison's disease in the young child between the ages of 2 and 10 years appears to be indeed a rare disorder.
Jaudon,1 who collected all cases of adrenal failure in children published prior to 1947, found only 13 below 10 years of age out of a total of 62 proven cases of childhood Addison's disease. In these, adrenocortical insufficiency was due to the adrenogenital syndrome in three, tuberculous caseation in five, and atrophy associated with other endocrinopathies in the remaining five.
In 1957 Welch2 added 29 more cases to Jaudon's review, of which 12 were under the age of 10 years. In six infants adrenocortical insufficiency developed soon after birth