Somatic and psychiatric comorbidities of hidradenitis suppurativa in children and adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is associated with various somatic and psychiatric comorbidities. Data regarding comorbidities in young patients with HS are sparse. OBJECTIVE: We analyzed both somatic and psychiatric comorbidities in young patients in a nationwide HS cohort. METHODS: In this retrospective case-control study, data from cases of HS in young (age 5 to <18 years) patients and age-matched controls with benign melanocytic nevi were collected from the Finnish Care Register for Health Care. The prevalence of preselected comorbidities was compared between the HS and control groups. RESULTS: A total of 153 HS cases were found in the specified age group. Of these, 34.0% had at least 1 somatic comorbidity compared with 4.9% of the controls. At least 1 of the preselected psychiatric diagnoses was present before the age of 18 years in 15.7% of case patients with HS compared with in 5.6% of the controls. By the age of 23 years, 23.5% of the patients with HS and 8.7% of the controls had at least 1 identified psychiatric comorbidity. LIMITATIONS: Despite this being one of the largest HS cohorts ever studied, the number of young patients with HS was relatively low. Because this was a registry-based study, it was not possible to verify the accuracy of the International Classification of Diseases codes. CONCLUSION: Physicians should monitor young patients with HS for both somatic and psychiatric comorbidities.

Patients with Hidradenitis Suppurativa Have a High Psychiatric Disease Burden: A Finnish Nationwide Registry Study.

Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease of hair follicles that is associated with various comorbidities. To further clarify the associations between HS and psychiatric disorders, we conducted a nationwide retrospective study that included 4,381 patients with HS, and 39,554 with psoriasis and 43,248 with melanocytic nevi as controls. Patient data were obtained from the statutory Finnish Care Register for Health Care. The incidence of HS was 3.0/100,000 persons/year. At least one psychiatric diagnosis was found in 24.1% of the patients with HS compared with 19.1% of the patients with psoriasis (odds ratio 1.34; 95% confidence interval 1.24-1.46) and 13.5% of those with melanocytic nevi (odds ratio 2.04; confidence interval 1.88-2.22). Every mental disorder examined was significantly more frequent in HS than in the two other groups. Mental disorders were more common in women than in men with HS and psoriasis. The main finding of our study is that patients with HS have a higher risk of mental disorders than patients with psoriasis. Additionally, this study reveals that HS is associated with both schizophrenia (odds ratio 1.57; confidence interval 1.24-1.98) and bipolar disorder (odds ratio 1.81; confidence interval 1.47-2.23), findings that to our knowledge have not been reported previously.