Blistering skin disease linked to other illnesses in Sweden
After diagnosis, patients had a higher relative rate of other illnesses than matched adults without the skin disease, with a hazard ratio of 2.20.
Our read
Populations- Studied:
- Cohort study of 5,738 Swedish patients with bullous pemphigoid, average 3.1 years
- What changed:
- Risk of other illnesses was higher after bullous pemphigoid diagnosis than in matched controls (hazard ratio 2.20)
- The catch:
- Medication exposure and disease severity were unavailable for adjustment, leaving potential confounding
- In the record:
- The 5th paper on bullous pemphigoid with results in people; 17 on record in all.
Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
The 5,738 Swedish adults with bullous pemphigoid, a blistering skin disease, were compared with 17,167 adults without it in an observational cohort study. Patients averaged 78.6 years old, and 3,026 were women. The groups were matched by age, sex and county. Researchers analyzed medical records from 2005 to 2016.
Other illnesses were more common both before and after the skin disease was diagnosed. The links included brain disorders, psychiatric conditions, diabetes and diseases in which the immune system attacks the body. After diagnosis, the relative rate of other diagnoses was highest in the first year, with a hazard ratio of 2.88 compared with controls. It remained elevated beyond one year, with a hazard ratio of 1.57.
Why it matters
Illnesses that cluster in older adults matter for assessing health beyond a single diagnosis. The authors highlighted accompanying conditions as clinically important in people with bullous pemphigoid.
Caveats
The medical-record comparison could not rule out closer medical attention around the skin disease diagnosis helping uncover other illnesses. Patients also had shorter average follow-up than controls: 3.1 versus 4.2 years.
From the paper
- Participants
The study included 5,738 individuals diagnosed with BP in the NPR between 2005 and 2016, including 3,026 women (52.7%).
- Result
Overall, BP patients exhibited a higher burden of comorbid conditions compared to controls, with an HR of 2.20 (95% CI: 2.08–2.33).
Results, Overall comorbidity association after a BP diagnosis
- Limitation
Information on disease severity, medication exposure, seasonality, and lifestyle factors was not available and could not be adjusted for, leaving the possibility of residual confounding.
Quoted word for word from the full text on PubMed Central.
- Bullous pemphigoid
- Diabetes mellitus
- Alopecia areata
- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
- Autoimmune disease
- Humans
The paper
Linköping University
Journal of Multimorbidity and Comorbidity, May 23, 2026, Open access
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