Table 1.

Demographic, clinical, and immunological characteristics of patients with DPP4i-associated BP compared with BP patients not taking DPP4i

	DPP4i-associated BP (n = 24)	Non-DPP4i-associated BP (n = 249)	P value
Age at diagnosis; years
Mean (SD)	77.48 (6.4)	79.20 (10.2)	0.247
Median (range)	77.74 (61.5–89.7)	80.65 (49.6–98.2)
Sex, n (%)
Male	11 (45.8)	108 (43.4)	0.813
Female	13 (54.2)	141 (56.6)
Distribution of bullous lesions, n (%)
Limbs	18 (75.0)	213 (85.5)	0.175
Trunk	23 (95.8)	184 (73.9)	0.017
Hands/feet	11 (45.8)	100 (40.2)	0.595
Head and neck	7 (29.2)	68 (27.3)	0.842
Mucosal involvement	3 (12.5)	28 (11.2)	0.848
Non-inflammatory phenotype, n (%)*	1 (6.3)	16 (13.8)	0.403
Mean BPDAI severity score (SD)*
Erosion/blister activity	29.8 (17.4)	20.6 (14.4)	0.018
Urticaria/erythema activity	12.5 (6.8)	12.5 (16.0)	0.999
Damage score	2.2 (3.6)	2.1 (3.1)	0.896
Pruritus score	20.3 (10.1)	19.1 (8.9)	0.627
Anti-BP180 NC16A ELISA**
Seropositivity, n (%)	20 (83.3)	201 (82.7)	0.940
ELISA value, mean (SD); U/ml	279.2 (346.1)	572.2 (1352.0)	0.009
Anti-BP230 ELISA***
Seropositivity, n (%)	3 (30.0)	38 (52.1)	0.193
ELISA value, mean (SD); U/ml	25.5 (47.8)	128.6 (302.9)	0.009

Significant values are shown in bold

Anti-BP180 NC16A and anti-BP230 antibodies levels were measured via ELISA; cutoff: 20.0 U/ml

BP bullous pemphigoid, BPDAI Bullous Pemphigoid Disease Area Index, DPP4i dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor(s), ELISA enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, n number, SD standard deviation

*Was calculated for 16 patients with DPP4i-associated BP and 116 patients with non-DPP4i-associated BP

**Was performed in all patients with DPP4i-associated BP and in 243 patients with non-DPP4i-associated BP

***Was performed in 10 patients with DPP4i-associated BP and in 73 patients with non-DPP4i-associated BP