Mortality of bullous pemphigoid: an evaluation of 223 patients and comparison with the mortality in the general population in the United States.
BACKGROUND
There are large discrepancies in reported mortality for bullous pemphigoid (BP).


OBJECTIVE
We sought to determine the mortality of a large cohort of patients with BP and compare this with age-matched control subjects.


METHODS
Data were collected on 223 patients with a new diagnosis of BP between 1998 and 2003 through our cutaneous immunofluorescence laboratory databases. The mortality of patients with BP was compared with that of age-matched control subjects in the general US population.


RESULTS
The 1-, 2-, and 5-year mortality was 0.23 (95% confidence interval=0.18, 0.29), 0.37 (95% confidence interval=0.31, 0.44), and 0.50 (95% confidence interval=0.42, 0.57), respectively. However, relative to age-matched control subjects, no difference in expected mortality was detected.


CONCLUSIONS
This was a retrospective cohort analysis.


CONCLUSIONS
Mortality of patients with BP is more likely related to advanced age and associated medical conditions than to disease-specific factors.
Parker
Sareeta R S
SR
Department of Dermatology at Emory University School of Medicine, and Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA. srsingh@emory.edu
Dyson
Senait
S
Brisman
Stacey
S
Pennie
Michelle
M
Swerlick
Robert A
RA
Khan
Rizwana
R
Manos
Sue
S
Korman
Benjamin D
BD
Xia
Zongqi
Z
Korman
Neil J
NJ
D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002423:Cause of Death / Q000639:trends*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010391:Pemphigoid, Bullous / Q000401:mortality*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution; D015996:Survival Rate; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology