OBJECTIVES: GPP is a rare, severe, potentially life-threatening, systemic disease, characterized by recurrent acute flares comprising disseminated erythematous skin rash with sterile neutrophil-filled pustules, and may include systemic symptoms. So far, the burden of this disease is poorly understood. This study describes comorbidities and HCRU in GPP patients.

METHODS: Patients were identified as having GPP if they had ≥1 inpatient or 1 outpatient ICD-10 L40.1 confirmed diagnosis code(s), separated by 30–365 days. All analyses were conducted via the Aetion Evidence Platform™ v3.17 using the Japan Medical Data Center, a Japanese database. The study period was from January 1, 2015 to February 28, 2019. The first diagnosis code marked the index date. A general population matched cohort (MC) of 4:1, based on age and sex, was generated for context. Patient characteristics, treatment, and all-cause utilization of inpatient and outpatient care during the 12-month follow-up (FU) were analyzed. Analyses were descriptive in nature; no formal comparisons were conducted.

RESULTS: 125 patients with GPP were identified at baseline and 82 had ≥12 months’ FU. Three of the most common comorbidities reported for GPP patients compared with the MC were chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (GPP: 18.3% vs MC: 13.8%), asthma (15.9% vs 9.2%), and hyperlipidemia (6.1% vs 2.1%) at the 12-month FU. During this time, patients with GPP were more likely to be treated with a systemic therapy (biologic or non-biologic) compared with the MC (56.1% vs 5.8%). Compared with the MC, GPP patients had more days of outpatient visits (median: 8.0 vs 4.0), a greater frequency of inpatient visits (32.9% vs 6.1%) and were hospitalized for longer (median: 9.0 vs 4.5 days).

CONCLUSIONS: This analysis suggests that in Japan, GPP patients have greater use of outpatient and inpatient care than the MC, highlighting an unmet need among this patient population.