(80) Systemic and Biologic Therapy in Atopic Dermatitis

Publication Number: 1125

Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common chronic, pruritic inflammatory skin condition. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved two new therapies that will focus on patients whose AD is not adequately controlled by systemic therapies.

Objectives: The objective of this research was to characterize demographics, disease severity, and associated comorbidities among AD patients being treated with systemic therapies in diverse healthcare delivery settings in the United States (US).

Methods: Patients from five specialty dermatology networks within the OMNY Health Database with any indication of AD (diagnosis code: L20*) from 2017-2021 and treated with systemic therapy (cyclosporine, methotrexate, prednisone, or intramuscular triamcinolone) and/or dupilumab, aged 12 and older, were included. Patients were categorized based on their most recent AD severity scores, limiting to those that were within 180 days of drug order date. Patients were classified as having mild-to-moderate disease if impacted body surface area (BSA) was < 10% or a severity assessment of clear, almost clear, mild, mild-to-moderate, or moderate. Patients were classified as moderate-to-severe if BSA was 10% or a severity assessment of moderate-to-severe, severe, or very severe.

Results: Across all years, 5,977 patients met the inclusion criteria. The mean (SD) age was 47 (21.4), 53% were female, and 76% were white among known categories. Of these patients, 56% were categorized as mild to moderate, while 44% were moderate to severe. The most common comorbidities among both the mild to moderate and moderate to severe populations were other diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue (89%, 83%), neoplasms (42%, 34%), diseases of the respiratory system (21%, 20%), and diseases of the circulatory system (23%, 17%).

Conclusions: Results provide insight into characteristics of AD patients treated with systemic therapies. Almost half of patients prescribed systemic and biologic therapy were moderate to severe, some of which may remain uncontrolled even with continued use. Further analyses would be helpful to better understand the unmet need for AD patients and how the newly approved treatments fill that unmet need.