Italian healthcare resource consumptions and direct costs of adults with atopic dermatitis before and after dupilumab treatment

BACKGROUND: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a heterogeneous disease, associated with comorbidities, and high healthcare consumptions and costs. This study assessed the burden before and after treatment with dupilumab in adults with severe AD from 2018 to 2020, from the perspective of the Italian National Health Service (SSN). METHODS: From Fondazione Ricerca e Salute’s administrative healthcare database (~5 million inhabitants/year), adults treated with dupilumab from 09/01/2018 to 31/12/2020 (index date) and a five-year lookback were identified. Age, sex and comorbidities at baseline, concomitant drugs, overnight hospitalizations, outpatient specialist services and direct costs charged to the SSN one year before/after index date were assessed. RESULTS: Of 337 adults treated with dupilumab (5.8x100,000 adult inhabitants/2019; 8.0x100,000/2020; 55% males; mean age 43±19), 68% (228/337) had ≥12-month follow-up available. Asthma was a common comorbidity (23% patients). Rates of patients treated with nearly all concomitant AD-related therapies reduced from 12 months before to 12 months after dupilumab treatment: antibacterials (from 59% to 50%), systemic corticosteroids (55% to 29%), antihistamines (54% to 38%) and cyclosporine (52% to 7%). A similar trend was observed among patients with asthma as comorbidity. Within 12 months before/after dupilumab, patients hospitalized halved from 14% to 7%, and patients receiving outpatient specialist care reduced from 72% to 65%. Annual mean direct total costs per patient treated with dupilumab charged to the SSN, net of dupilumab cost, were €1384 and €773, before and after dupilumab dispensation, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Before dupilumab, observed patients had higher healthcare resource consumptions and direct SSN costs than after dupilumab