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Updated: May 15, 2026
Technique of Conjunctival Biopsy and Direct Immunofluorescence for Diagnosing Mucous Membrane Pemphigoid
Published on: June 17, 2025
Mortality rate in bullous pemphigoid: a retrospective monocentric cohort study
B Cortés1, E Khelifa, L Clivaz
1Service de Dermatologie, Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland. begonia.cortes @ hcuge.ch
Background:
Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is the most common autoimmune blistering skin disease and is associated with an increased mortality. The end points of our study were to evaluate the mortality rate in a retrospective cohort of BP patients followed up to 5 years after the diagnosis and to determine prognostics factors.
Methods:
All new cases of BP diagnosed between 1990 and 2003 in the University Hospital of Geneva were retrospectively collected. 60 patients were included, 47 (88.6%) of whom were treated with a combination of corticosteroids and chlorambucil.
Results:
The 1-year, 2-year and 5-year probabilities of death were 26.7, 37.1 and 60.8%, respectively. Old age, dementia and use of chlorambucil at initial doses of 6 mg/day, but not at lower doses, were associated with poor prognosis in multivariate analysis.
Conclusion:
Our study confirms that BP is associated with a high mortality. The observed mortality rates are however higher than those of previous studies, which is probably related to the inclusion of more debilitated patients.
