Comparing the burden of illness in patients with alopecia areata vs atopic dermatitis in the US population from a payer perspective

BACKGROUND: Alopecia areata (AA) is an autoimmune disease characterized by nonscarring hair loss. AA frequently co-occurs with other inflammatory autoimmune conditions, presenting a significant clinical burden. OBJECTIVE: To compare the burden of illness, direct and indirect costs in adult patients with AA vs atopic dermatitis (AD). METHODS: This retrospective cohort study used US administrative claims data from the Merative MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters Database to compare commercially insured adults with AA to those with AD. Patients with an AA diagnosis between January 2017 and September 2019 were propensity score matched to patients with AD. Comorbidity burden, medication use, health care resource utilization, health care costs, and indirect costs during a 12-month follow-up period were compared between cohorts. RESULTS: Overall, 25,446 adult patients with AA were selected for the matched analysis with the AD cohort. Patients with AA generally had lower comorbidity burden than patients with AD; mean Deyo-Charlson Comorbidity Index scores were 0.36 (SD = 0.99) and 0.39 (SD = 0.92), for AA and AD, respectively (P = 0.007). Patients with AA had significantly lower proportions of allergic rhinitis, asthma, pruritus, skin infections, and urticaria, but higher proportions of thyroid disease, when compared with patients with AD (all P < 0.001). A smaller proportion of patients with AA had prescriptions for topical (45.3% vs 64.8%; P < 0.001) and oral (20.3% vs 29.6%; P < 0.001) corticosteroids and antianxiety and/or antidepressants (24.7% vs 29.7%; P < 0.001), but a significantly larger proportion for intralesional corticosteroids (triamcinolone) (49.6% vs 21.7%; P < 0.001), compared with patients with AD. Despite a lower comorbidity burden and generally less medication usage in patients with AA, total all-cause health care costs did not significantly differ between the AA and AD cohorts ($10,705 vs $10,816; P = 0.712), and outpatient costs were higher in patients with AA ($6,297 vs $5,859; P = 0.014). Female patients with AA had significantly greater costs for both outpatient and outpatient pharmacy when compared with female patients with AD. Patients with AA were more likely to have a claim for long-term disability (0.6% vs 0.3%; P = 0.001) and higher long-term disability–associated indirect costs ($73 [SD = $1,442] vs $25 [SD = $774]; P = 0.004) compared with patients with AD. CONCLUSIONS: We found similar total health care costs in patients with AA and AD, despite a lower proportion of comorbidities and prescription use in patients with AA. Outpatient costs were also significantly higher overall in patients with AA. Although often dismissed as a cosmetic condition, AA, an autoimmune disease, has a similar level of medical expenditure as AD.