OBJECTIVES: Vitiligo is an autoimmune disease resulting in melanocyte destruction and patches of skin depigmentation; limited data are available for this population in Quebec, Canada. The objective of this retrospective claims database study was to compare healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) of patients with vitiligo to a non-vitiligo control group.

METHODS: Data were obtained from the Régie de l’assurance maladie (RAMQ), the agency responsible for public health coverage in Quebec, for a subgroup of 125,000 random individuals between 01/2010 and 12/2019 from which case patients and age- and sex-matched controls (1:3 ratio) were selected. Patients in the vitiligo cohort were identified based on the Bell et al (2019) algorithm, combining International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-9 diagnostic code 709 with use of vitiligo-related treatments. Index date was defined as the date of first diagnosis recorded in the database. Annualized HCRU and costs (2021 adjusted) for all-cause hospitalization, emergency department visits, outpatient visits, and medication were calculated for both groups, whereas vitiligo-related HCRU was calculated for vitiligo cases only.

RESULTS: Patients in the vitiligo cohort (n=113) had a mean age of 50 years (SD=25), and 68% were female. Average annual total HCRU cost was similar between patients in the vitiligo cohort and the matched control group (CAN$6,148 vs CAN$5,682, respectively; P=0.72). Patients in the vitiligo cohort had a higher mean number of outpatient visits (16.1 vs 5.5; P<0.01) and higher total all-cause service costs in the year after vs the year before vitiligo diagnosis (CAN$3,679 vs CAN$2,085; P=0.04). Total annualized service cost related to vitiligo was CAN$172, and the medication cost was CAN$90.

CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we observed that vitiligo may lead to increased resource utilization and costs, mostly attributed to outpatient visits. This could potentially impact the productivity for these patients due to workday loss.