Characterization of patient perception of odor severity in hidradenitis suppurativa using TARGET-DERM HS.

Challenge

HS-related odor is frequently reported by patients as a major source of social stigma and quality-of-life impairment, yet it had never been quantitatively evaluated from the patient perspective in a large real-world cohort, and no validated cutoff existed to distinguish mild from severe odor burden.

Solution

The TARGET-DERM HS registry was used to stratify patients into odor severity quartiles based on the HSSA odor question and compare demographics, clinician-reported outcomes, and patient-reported QoL measures (HiSQOL, DLQI, PROMIS) across quartiles using multivariable regression.

Impact

Quantifying the pervasive QoL impact of HS odor across patient subgroups—and demonstrating that odor severity predicts worse HiSQOL, DLQI, and psychiatric outcomes—establishes odor as a patient-relevant endpoint for HS drug development and supports AbbVie's label strategy for therapies demonstrating odor reduction.