Association of Early Systemic Corticosteroid Therapy with Mortality in Patients with Stevens–Johnson Syndrome or Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis: A Retrospective Cohort Study Using a Nationwide Claims Database

Stevens–Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) are severe dermatologic disorders with high mortality. The role of systemic corticosteroids as an adjunctive therapy for SJS or TEN remains controversial. The aim of this study was to determine whether treatment with early systemic corticosteroids impacts the in-hospital mortality of patients hospitalized with SJS or TEN. Using the Japanese Diagnosis Procedure Combination Database, a large nationwide inpatient administrative claims database, we identified inpatients aged ≥ 18 years who were admitted with SJS or TEN. Treatment with early systemic corticosteroids was defined as starting treatment with systemic corticosteroids within 2 days (day 0 or day 1) of admission. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. We examined the association between early systemic corticosteroids and in-hospital mortality using propensity score (PS) analyses. We identified 1846 eligible patients with SJS or TEN, including 793 patients with early systemic corticosteroid use at ≤ 2 mg/kg/day, 558 patients with early systemic corticosteroid use at > 2 mg/kg/day, and 495 patients without early corticosteroid use. PS matching created 235 pairs (> 2 mg/kg/day vs. controls) and 332 pairs (≤ 2 mg/kg/day vs. controls). Early systemic corticosteroid use was not significantly associated with lower in-hospital mortality by PS matching (> 2 mg/kg/day vs. controls: relative risk [RR] 0.83, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.37–1.85; ≤ 2 mg/kg/day vs. controls: RR 0.61, 95% CI 0.28–1.36) and by inverse probability of treatment weighting (> 2 mg/kg/day vs. controls: RR 0.99, 95% CI 0.45–2.19; ≤ 2 mg/kg/day vs. controls: RR 0.65, 95% CI 0.29–1.47). Early systemic corticosteroid therapy for patients with SJS or TEN was not associated with lower in-hospital mortality. Further studies are needed to define the effect of corticosteroids for patients with SJS or TEN.