Clinical features, associated systemic diseases, mortality rates, and treatment protocols in a group of Turkish patients with bullous pemphigoid

Abstract

Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate the clinical features, associated systemic diseases, treatment protocols, recurrence rates, and mortality rates in bullous pemphigoid (BP) patients. Material and Methods: The demographic and clinical characteristics of 47 patients with BP were evaluated. 47 age and gender-matched subjects without autoimmune bullous disease were included as the control group. The comorbidities accompanying to BP patients and the diseases in the control group were compared. Results: The mean age of the patients was 77.9?±10.57 (36- 96) years old, and the average disease duration was 39.30?±29.54 months. The BP patients were compared with the control group in terms of systemic diseases using a chi-squared test with a 95% confidence interval. No significant differences were found between the BP patients and the control group with regard to the associated systemic diseases, including hypertension (HT), diabetes mellitus (DM), neurological disease, heart disease, malignancy, and other diseases. Systemic corticosteroids (methylprednisolone) were administered to 34 (72.3%) of the patients, while 12 (25%) patients were given methylprednisolone alone. Azathioprine and methotrexate were added to the treatments of 5 (10.6%) and 3 (6.4%) of the cases, respectively. Eight (17%) patients showed recurrences, and the mortality rate was 23.4%. Conclusion: Although the results of our study showed that a significant proportion of the BP patients had an accompanying systemic disease, most frequently hypertension and diabetes mellitus, there was not a statistically significant difference in terms of comorbidities between BP patients and controls. Systemic corticosteroids were the most commonly used treatments. Overall, our data from this 7-year period will contribute to the understanding of the characteristics of the BP patients in Turkey. © 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.