Inpatient care for psoriasis: quo vadis?-Aretrospective study at the University Hospitals of Aachen, Bonn, and Essen from 2010 to 2019

Abstract

Anumber of new, highly effective biologic drugs for psoriasis have been approved over the past few decades, which raises the question whether psoriasis is still adisease that requires inpatient treatment. We conducted aretrospective analysis of inpatient data between 2010 and 2019 (the last 10years prior to the coronavirus disease 2019 [COVID-19] pandemic) from three German dermatology departments at university hospitals (Aachen, Bonn, and Essen). The data collected included age, gender, the primary admission diagnosis, length of stay (LOS), and number of all comorbidities recorded during hospitalization. Atotal of 59,500 patients were admitted to the three dermatological departments in the defined 10-year period. Of these patients, psoriasis (L40.-) was the main diagnosis for 4322 (7.3%). An almost continuous increase was observed in all inpatient dermatological cases, which was as high as 27% in 2016 compared to 2010. For psoriasis patients, the most substantial increase in the number of admissions was reached in 2016 compared to 2010 and was as high as 45%. While there was astatistically significant reduction of the mean LOS for all dermatological inpatient cases from 6.4 ± 6.6days in 2010 to 5.1 ± 4.6days in 2019 (p < 0.001), the decrease in 2019 compared to 2010 (from 12.2 ± 5.5 to 8.9 ± 3.3days) was significantly greater for the inpatient psoriasis patients compared to the inpatient population overall (p < 0.001). Our data show astable need for inpatient psoriasis facilities in Germany. Further analysis of hospital admissions after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic is needed to understand the ongoing influence of modern systemic treatment options on inpatient psoriasis care in Germany.