Association between chronic kidney disease and risk of bullous pemphigoid: a nationwide population‐based cohort study

Abstract

SummaryBackgroundStudies have shown that bullous pemphigoid (BP) occurs in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, the risk of developing BP in patients with CKD remains inconclusive.ObjectiveTo investigate whether CKD increases the risk of BP.MethodsParticipants were recruited from the National Health Insurance Database of Taiwan between 2007 and 2018. Overall, 637,664 newly diagnosed patients with CKD and 637,664 age‐, sex‐, and comorbidity‐matched non‐CKD participants were selected. A competing risk model was used to evaluate the risk of development of BP.ResultsAfter adjusting for age, sex, and comorbid diseases in the multivariate model, CKD was a significant risk factor for BP (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR]: 1.29; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.17–1.42; p < 0.001). CKD patients were classified into the dialytic or non‐dialytic groups and compared to non‐CKD participants, and this revealed that patients with dialysis‐dependent CKD had the highest risk of BP (aHR 1.75; 95% CI 1.51–2.03), followed by patients with non‐dialysis‐dependent CKD (aHR 1.20; 95% CI 1.08–1.32).LimitationsWe lacked detailed laboratory data on the severity of CKD.ConclusionsCompared with individuals without CKD, those with CKD had a 1.3‐fold increased risk of BP. Patients with dialysis‐dependent CKD had an even higher BP risk (1.8‐fold).