Epidemiology

Cellulitis is a common condition. One population-based study in Minnesota limited to cellulitis involving a lower extremity found an incidence of 199 episodes per 100,000 person-years.[2] In an Australian study, the overall annual incidence of primary episodes of lower limb cellulitis was 205 per 100,000 population.[3] Annual incidence of cellulitis in the Netherlands is estimated to be 22 per 1000 inhabitants.[4]

Sex did not affect the rate, but increasing age is associated with a higher incidence.[2] In one study over a 12-month period from 2014 to 2015, the cellulitis hospitalization rate was 1100 per 100,000 in people ages 80 years and over, as opposed to 237 episodes per 100,000 in the general population.[5] Admissions for cellulitis consistently peak in summer months, with this seasonality observed in several countries.[6][7][8] The past two decades have seen an increase in visits for skin infection with community-associated MRSA; however, further analysis concluded this was mostly due to abscesses rather than cellulitis.[9][10][11]

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