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. 2019 Aug 11;6(3):88.
doi: 10.3390/medicines6030088.

Inpatient Burden of Prurigo Nodularis in the United States

Katherine A Whang  1 , Sewon Kang  1 , Shawn G Kwatra  2   3
Affiliations

Inpatient Burden of Prurigo Nodularis in the United States

Katherine A Whang et al. Medicines (Basel). .

Abstract

Background: Although prurigo nodularis (PN) has a significant burden of disease, little is known about its epidemiology and disease burden within the United States. We describe the characteristics of hospitalized patients diagnosed with PN and assess the factors associated with hospitalization. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study of the 2016 National Inpatient Sample, a representative sample of 20% of hospital discharges nationally. Results: Patients diagnosed with PN accounted for 3.7 inpatient visits per 100,000 discharges nationally in 2016. Patients with PN were more likely to be black (odds ratio (OR) 4.43, 95% CI (3.33-6.08), p < 0.001) or Asian (OR 3.44, 95% CI (1.39-5.08), p = 0.003) compared with white patients. Patients diagnosed with PN had both a longer length of hospital stay (mean ± SD, 6.51 ± 0.37 days vs. 4.62 ± 0.02 days, p < 0.001) and higher cost of care ($14,772 ± $964 vs. $11,728 ± $106, p < 0.001) compared with patients without PN. Patients with PN were significantly more likely to be admitted for HIV complications (OR 78.2, 95% CI (46.4-131.8), p < 0.001). PN contributes to increased inpatient cost of care and length of hospitalization. Conclusions: There are racial disparities associated with hospital admission of patients diagnosed with PN.

Keywords: disease burden; inpatient; itch; national inpatient sample; prurigo nodularis; pruritus.

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Conflict of interest statement

S.G.K. is an advisory board member for Menlo and Trevi Therapeutics and has received grant funding from Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals. S.K. is an advisory board member for Menlo Therapeutics.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Comparison of racial distribution. The racial distribution of patients with no prurigo nodularis (left) compared to patients with prurigo nodularis (right). The population of prurigo nodularis patients is disproportionately black compared to patients with no prurigo nodularis.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Comparison of primary admission reason. Primary admission reason for prurigo nodularis patients compared to patients with no prurigo nodularis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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