OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to describe healthcare resources consumption (HRC) by adult patients with moderate and severe atopic dermatitis (AD) in two private healthcare plans in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

METHODS: This is a non-interventional, retrospective study using electronic medical records (EMR) from the Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires (HIBA) and Hospital Aleman (HA) from 1 January 2015 to 1 January 2020. Annual HRC rates and costs were described based on frequency of visits to primary care physicians or specialists, frequency, duration and unit of hospitalizations and emergency room (ER) visits. The total costs were estimated according to HRC prices from the HIBA as a reference for both hospitals.

RESULTS: The initial cohort included 1994 patients, 1751 from HIBA and 243 from HA. After a manual revision by dermatologists and allergy specialists, 1601 patients were excluded because they had a different diagnosis and 3 patients had a restriction to access their EMR. A total of 390 patients with AD were retrieved; 301 with mild, 57 with moderate and 32 with severe AD. Regarding the HRC; the rate of outpatient visits (patient/year) for patients with moderate AD was 6.13, 7.38 for severe AD, and 6.6 for moderate and severe AD. The percentage of patients who required hospitalization was 3.64% for moderate AD, 27.27% for severe AD, and 19% for severe and moderate AD. Moreover, 78.8% of patients with moderate AD attended the ER, 80% with severe AD and 78.6% with moderate and severe AD. The dollarized (USD) annual rate of spending per patient was: USD 937.78 for patients with moderate AD, USD 918.32 for severe AD, and USD 929.60 for moderate and severe AD.

CONCLUSIONS: The HRC of patients with moderate and severe AD was approximately double than the reported in the literature.