OBJECTIVES: Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), a chronic inflammatory skin disease, is associated with reduced quality of life (QoL) and work productivity.^1,2 The association between increasingly stringent efficacy responses and changes in patient-reported pain, health‑related QoL (HRQoL), and work productivity was examined in patients with moderate to severe HS.

METHODS: This post hoc analysis used pooled data from the phase 3 studies BE HEARD I&II.^3,4 Patients were pooled regardless of treatment (placebo, bimekizumab 320mg every 2 or 4 weeks), and grouped by achievement of mutually exclusive HS Clinical Response (HiSCR) levels (<50% improvement from baseline [<HiSCR50]; 50–<75% improvement [HiSCR50–<75]; 75–<90% improvement [HiSCR75–<90]; 90–100% improvement [HiSCR90–100]) at Week 16.

Associations between level of increasingly stringent efficacy response and improvement in patient-reported outcomes (HS Symptom Daily Diary Worst Skin Pain, EQ-5D Utility, HS QOL [HiSQOL] scores, and Work Productivity and Activity Impairment [WPAI] Percent Overall Work Impairment) to Week 16 were assessed. Observed case data are reported.

RESULTS: In BE HEARD I&II, 1,014 patients were randomized to placebo or bimekizumab; 915 (90.2%) completed Week 16.

At Week 16, patients achieving increasingly stringent HiSCR responses demonstrated sequentially numerically greater mean (95% confidence intervals) improvements from baseline in Worst Skin Pain score (<HiSCR50: −0.9[−1.2,−0.7]; HiSCR50–<75: −1.6[−2.0,−1.2]; HiSCR75–<90: −2.4[−2.9,−1.9]; HiSCR90–100: −2.8[−3.3,−2.3]). Similar improvements were seen for EQ-5D Utility and HiSQOL scores.

Increasingly stringent HiSCR response was associated with numerically greater improvements in WPAI Percent Overall Work Impairment (<HiSCR50: −7.6[−11.1,−4.2]; HiSCR50–<75: −14.3[−19.8,−8.8]; HiSCR75–<90: −17.9[−23.1, −12.6]; HiSCR90–100: −21.3[­−26.8,−15.9]).

CONCLUSIONS: Patients with HS achieving increasingly stringent clinical response outcomes had greater improvements in pain, HRQoL, and work productivity. Pain and work productivity improvements were up to ~3x greater in HiSCR90–100 responders vs <HiSCR50 responders.

1. Zouboulis CC. Dermatology 2015;231:184–90; 2. Chernyshov PV, et al. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2023;37:954–64; 3. BE HEARD I: www.clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04242446; 4. BE HEARD II: www.clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04242498.