Primary Sjögren’s syndrome in Italy: real-world evidence of a rare disease through administrative healthcare data

Study type

• Study topic:
  Disease /health condition
• Study type:
  Non-interventional study

Population studied

• Short description of the study population:
  People with primary Sjogren Syndrome cared by the Italian National Healthcare Service

Study design details

• Study design:
  Individual direct matched pair case-control analysis (age, sex, residency).
• Main study objective:
  This study aimed to evaluate epidemiology, healthcare needs and related costs of patients with primary Sjogren Syndrome, from the Italian National Healthcare Service perspective.
• Setting:
  Inpatient and outpatient
• Summary results:
  In Italy, 3.8/10,000 inhabitants were identified as affected by pSS (1,746 case: 1,746 controls) in 2018. In the year following index date, 53.7% of cases and 42.7% of controls received ≥1 drug (p<0.001); mean per capita cost was €501 and €161, respectively (p<0.01). At least one hospitalization occurred to 7.8% of cases and 3.9% of controls (p<0.001) with mean per capita costs of €416 and €129, respectively (p=0.46). At least one outpatient specialist service was performed in 49.8% of cases and 30.6% of controls (p<0.001); mean per capita costs were €200 and €75, respectively (p<0.01). Overall, mean annual costs were €1,171 per case and €372 per control (p < 0.01).