P69 Baseline characteristics of patients with physician-diagnosed hidradenitis suppurativa: results from a retrospective observational study using data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink database

Abstract Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a difficult-to-treat, painful, chronic inflammatory skin disorder characterized by nodules, abscesses and skin tunnels. Delay in diagnosis increases disease severity and overall disease burden. In England, HS is associated with a high healthcare resource use, with an estimated prevalence of 1.2% in the general UK population (Ingram JR, Jenkins-Jones S, Knipe DW et al. Population-based Clinical Practice Research Datalink study using algorithm modelling to identify the true burden of hidradenitis suppurativa. Br J Dermatol 2018; 178:917–24). Improved understanding of HS patient profiles in England will help optimize patient care and treatment outcomes. This study aimed to characterize the patient profiles, journey, treatment pathways and treatment outcomes of patients with HS in England using data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink database. Here, we present the baseline characteristics of patients with HS from this database. Overall, 39 860 patients with physician-diagnosed HS were identified from 1 January 2009 to 31 March 2021. The mean (SD) age at diagnosis was 34.49 (13.07) years, and the majority were female (73.8%). Twenty-seven per cent of patients were White, 7.5% were Asian, 5.0% were Black and 27.9% were of mixed race, while 2.1% were from other races and the race was unknown for 30.7%. Overall, 44.6% were current smokers and 12.7% were ex-smokers. Depression (31.7%), anxiety (21.5%) and acne (20.6%) were the most commonly reported comorbidities related to HS. Chronic pulmonary disease was reported in 26.2% of patients; this may, in part, be attributed to relatively high rates of smoking in the HS population. The most frequently prescribed medications prior to HS diagnosis were pain medication, especially ‘non-opioid’ analgesics (21.8%) and opioids (19.8%); oral antibiotics, particularly tetracyclines (15.7%); combined contraceptive pills (7.2%) and metformin (4.8%). Only a few patients (< 0.05%) received a biologic prior to their HS diagnosis for other chronic inflammatory conditions. The various comorbidities, including psychiatric, metabolic, cardiovascular, gynaecological and pulmonary and associated treatments, observed in this real-world study in England suggest that optimal management should involve a multidisciplinary approach to improve outcomes in patients with HS.