OBJECTIVES: Hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES) is a rare group of blood disorders characterized by prolonged eosinophilia leading to tissue and organ damage. Healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) in patients with HES is not well characterized, and clinical trial data may not be representative of the real-world population. This analysis aimed to describe real-world HES-related HCRU in European patients.

METHODS: This retrospective chart review study included patients ≥6 years old with a confirmed diagnosis of HES and ≥1 year of follow-up data from index (first physician encounter: Jan 2015–Dec 2019) across France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom (UK). HES-related hospitalizations, outpatient and emergency room (ER) visits were assessed across all patients and separately by country.

RESULTS: Of 280 patients included, 65.0% were male and 55.4% had idiopathic HES; mean (standard deviation [SD]) age at diagnosis was 42.4 (16.2) years. The most common comorbidity was asthma (45.0%). Mean (SD) disease duration was 4.0 (4.5) years, and mean length of follow-up was 2.8 (1.4) years. Overall, 85 (30.4%) patients had ≥1 HES-related hospitalization; mean (SD) length of stay (LoS) was 11.0 (9.4) days. HES-related outpatient and ER visits were reported for 72 (25.7%) and 243 (86.8%) patients, respectively. The proportion of patients hospitalized was highest in the UK (43.5%) and lowest in Spain (11.5%). Mean (SD) LoS during HES-related hospitalization was 15.3 (4.2) in Spain, 9.9 (11.0) in the UK and 9.9 (7.3) in France. The proportion of patients with outpatient visits was highest in France (93.4%) and lowest in Italy (78.8%). The proportion of patients with ER visits was highest in the UK (37.1%) and lowest in Italy (13.5%).

CONCLUSIONS: Real-world patients with HES have substantial HCRU burden, and a need exists for novel treatment approaches to relieve both the disease and related HCRU burden of HES.