Burden of Herpes Zoster in selected immunocompromised populations in the German Pharmacoepidemiological Research Database (GePaRD)

Study type

• Study topic:
  Disease /health condition
• Study type:
  Non-interventional study
• Scope of the study:
  Disease epidemiology
• Data collection methods:
  Secondary use of data

Non-interventional study

• Non-interventional study design:
  Cohort

  Cross-sectional

Study drug and medical condition

• Medical condition to be studied:
  Herpes zoster

Population studied

• Short description of the study population:
  Patients aged 18 years and above with different severities of immunosuppression.
• Age groups:
  Adults (18 to < 46 years)

  Adults (46 to < 65 years)

  Adults (65 to < 75 years)

  Adults (75 to < 85 years)

  Adults (85 years and over)
• Special population of interest:
  Immunocompromised
• Estimated number of subjects:
  1260000

Study design details

• Main study objective:
  To estimate the incidence of herpes zoster and its complications in immunocompromised subjects, aged 18 years and above, overall and stratified by sex, age group, and type of immunocompromising disease or therapy.
• Outcomes:
  Incidence of herpes zoster. Prevalence of herpes zoster complications and frequencies of hospitalisations, physician visits, and treatments with antivirals and analgesics.
• Data analysis plan:
  A cross-sectional design will be used to identify patients with different severities of immunosuppression for the years 2006-2012 based on immunocompromising diseases and drug treatments. A cohort design will be used to calculate annual incidence rates of herpes zoster for the years 2006-2012, stratified by age, sex, and severity of immunosuppression and to analyse the prevalence of herpes zoster complications, physician visits, hospitalisations, and antiviral and analgesic treatments.