OBJECTIVES: PPP is a chronic, debilitating, painful inflammatory skin disease, characterized by localized, sterile pustules on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. Increasing understanding of the burden of disease in this population could lead to targeted interventions that improve patient quality of life. This study describes comorbidities and HCRU in patients with PPP.

METHODS: Patients were identified as having PPP if they had ≥1 inpatient or 1 outpatient ICD-10 L40.3 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, with the first diagnosis code marking 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. All analyses were descriptive; no formal comparisons were conducted.

RESULTS: 7745 patients with PPP were identified at baseline, and 5251 had ≥12 months’ FU. The most common comorbidities reported for PPP patients compared with the MC were obesity (PPP: 17.9% vs MC: 15.0%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (14.1% vs 11.2%), and asthma (7.9% vs 9.5%) at the 12-month FU. During this time, patients with PPP were more likely to be treated with a systemic therapy (biologic or non-biologic) than the MC (16.2% vs 6.0%). In addition, PPP patients had more days of outpatient visits (median: 5.0 vs 3.0), a higher frequency of inpatient visits (7.4% vs 5.2%), and were hospitalized for longer (median: 6.0 vs 4.0 days).

CONCLUSIONS: This analysis suggests that in Japan, patients with PPP have greater HCRU than those in the MC, highlighting an unmet need among this patient population.