Men with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) have more advanced disease and higher levels of comorbid diseases compared with women, yet are less likely to receive treatment, according to research recently presented at the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease (AASLD)’s annual liver meeting.
PBC can lead to scarring and end-stage liver failure, especially if patients do not receive adequate care. In general, patients do best when the disease is diagnosed as early as possible, so that necessary therapies can be promptly initiated.
While there are studies documenting sex differences in the prevalence of PBC, studies looking into sex differences in the area of care remains limited, especially in the U.S. Researchers hence sought to take a closer look into differences in treatment rates, healthcare resource utilization and clinical outcomes between male and female patients with PBC.
This study utilized data from the Komodo Research Database, which provided information on patients diagnosed with PBC between January 2016 and September 2023. Patients had their baseline clinical information assessed 12 months prior to PBC diagnosis. The database then tracked treatment rate, healthcare utilization costs and patient outcomes until end of enrolment, the point of data cut or death.
Read more about PBC testing and diagnosis
The data of 9,308 women with PBC and 2,283 men were included in this analysis. While the age of diagnosis between women and men was comparable (57.9 years vs. 58.6 years), men had a higher comorbidity burden, meaning that they were more likely to have other diseases present aside from PBC.
Men were also more likely than women to have complications associated with PBC prior to diagnosis. Furthermore, men were less likely than women to receive treatment, either prior to or after diagnosis.
Men were also more likely to develop poor clinical outcomes after being diagnosed with PBC. In addition, men with PBC were more likely than women to require inpatient care, and stay for longer when they were admitted to the hospital.
“These findings suggest that sex may influence both the care and clinical outcomes of PBC and should be considered in disease management,” the research team concluded.
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