Incidence and prevalence of mucous membrane pemphigoid with ocular involvement: a retrospective analysis using the TriNetX database.

BACKGROUND

Mucous membrane pemphigoid with ocular involvement (oMMP) is an autoimmune disease that results in chronic conjunctivitis, conjunctival scarring, and if left untreated, permanent vision loss. oMMP is quite rare with incidence rates between one in 12,000 to one in 60,000, but there is a lack of large population-based studies that focus solely on oMMP. Thus, we sought to examine the cumulative and annual incidence and prevalence of oMMP in the TriNetX database and compared these findings to the US population for greater generalizability.

METHODS

This was a retrospective study utilised International Classification of Disease, 10th edition (ICD-10) codes to determine the yearly and cumulative incidence and prevalence, demographics, ocular complications, and immunosuppressant treatments prescribed for oMMP from 2013 to 2023. TriNetX software was used to analyze the data.

RESULTS

A total of 4052 patients were diagnosed with oMMP with a mean age of 73 years (SD = 14; range 18-90). The majority of patients were female (n = 2604 64.26%) and non-Hispanic, white (n = 3098, 76.46%). Prednisone was the most common systemic medication prescribed to 40% of patients. The most used immunosuppressive drug was mycophenolate mofetil (21%). Glaucoma was the most common ocular complication (n = 375, 9.25%). Between 2013 and 2023, there was a continuous rise in the cumulative incidence and prevalence rates. The 11-year cumulative incidence and prevalence were 1.41per 100,000 persons and 6.72 per 100,000 persons, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Compared to current literature, the TriNetX population with oMMP had similar demographics and immunosuppressant use, but showed a higher incidence and an overall increasing prevalence.