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.

LIMITATIONS: 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.