Epidemiology of Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis in the United States and factors predictive of outcome.

BACKGROUND

Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS), toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), and SJS-TEN overlap syndrome are rare severe cutaneous adverse reactions associated with high mortality.

OBJECTIVES

To estimate incidence and describe trends of SJS/TEN hospitalizations in the United States and to describe the clinical, demographic, and geographic characteristics of affected patients and risk factors for mortality.

METHODS

We utilized hospitalization data from the 2010 to 2020 National Inpatient Sample. SJS, SJS-TEN overlap syndrome, and TEN were identified by International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision and International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision codes and analyzed by logistic regression.

RESULTS

We identified 51,040 hospitalizations involving SJS/TEN. Amog those, 37,283 (73.0%) were for SJS only, 7818 (15.3%) were for SJS-TEN overlap syndrome, and 7160 (14.0%) were for TEN only. Overall, SJS/TEN hospitalization rates declined over time, 2010 to 2020 (P < .05). Mortality rates of the SJS group, SJS-TEN overlap syndrome group, and TEN group were 5.4%, 14.4%, and 15.3%, respectively. Increasing age, chronic kidney disease, pneumonia, sepsis, and malignant neoplasm were all significantly associated with increased odds of mortality (P < .05). Non-Hispanic White racial/ethnic identification was associated with decreased odds of mortality (P < .05).

LIMITATIONS: Lack of standardization for diagnostic criteria.

CONCLUSIONS

Risk factors identified in this study lay the groundwork for improvement in SJS/TEN mortality prediction scoring.