Unmet clinical needs, burden of disease and treatment patterns in hidradenitis suppurativa: Real‐world experience from Spain

Abstract Background Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic, inflammatory, debilitating skin disease. HS is difficult‐to‐treat, and a multifaceted treatment approach is recommended to achieve adequate clinical response. A greater understanding of HS treatment could help identify unmet clinical needs. Objectives To evaluate disease characteristics and treatment patterns in a real‐world population of patients with HS in Spain. Methods This retrospective analysis utilised data collected from the Adelphi HS Disease Specific Programme between November 2020 and April 2021. Dermatologists completed patient record forms (PRFs) for consulting HS patients. Outcomes included disease severity, HS clinical signs, quality of life measures, medical treatments and previous surgeries. Results Overall, 53 dermatologists completed 332 PRFs, each representing one patient with HS. Based on physician‐judged disease severity at sampling, 73.8%, 22.9% and 3.3% of patients were classified as mild, moderate or severe, respectively. Overall, patients presented with 2.8±2.7 (mean±SD) HS symptoms, which increased with worsening disease severity. The most frequently reported symptoms were ‘inflammation/redness of HS lesions/abscess’ (45.9%), general pain/discomfort (39.9%) and pain on sitting (32.3%). Overall, patients reported a mean±SD Dermatology Life Quality Index score of 4.7±4.8, which increased with worsening disease severity (mild, 3.9±4.3; moderate, 8.7±5.1; moderate to severe, 9.0±5.1). When asked what effect HS had on everyday activities, a large proportion of patients reported that HS sometimes or greatly affected personal appearance/self‐confidence (66.0%), mood (60.2%), close personal relationships (60.4%), motivation (38.3%), leisure activities (43.0%) and feelings about the future (33.6%). At the time of HS diagnosis, the most frequently prescribed treatment regimens were topicals (70.7%), antibiotics (57.6%) and antiseptics (32.2%). At the time of sampling, the most common treatment regimens were biologics (43.8%), topicals (34.9%) and antibiotics (32.2%). The mean±SD number of surgical interventions was 0.6±0.8; incision and drainage (31.3%), local or limited excision (13.0%), and wide surgical excision of all hair‐bearing skin (9.9%) were the most common surgeries. Conclusions These real‐world data suggest a high disease burden in patients with HS in Spain. Patients received multiple treatments, and a notable proportion underwent surgery. More data are needed to define optimal HS management strategies.