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2016 Agenda and Abstracts | < Previous 2016 OMIG Abstract 24 Medical Complications and Healthcare Utilization Associated with Herpes Zoster Purpose: Herpes zoster is a cause of significant health and economic burden. This study aims to investigate changes in healthcare utilization and complications before and after diagnosis of herpes zoster in two groups of patients aged 50-59 and 60-69 years at initial diagnoses. Methods: All patients who were diagnosed with herpes zoster from 2013 to 2015 were identified from electronic medical records based on ICD-9 diagnostic codes. Data, reviewed by authors with medical training, included patient demographic characteristics and medical histories from six months prior to and up to one year after initial herpes zoster diagnosis including numbers of clinic visits, hospitalizations, and emergency room visits. Statistical analysis was performed using Fisher’s Exact tests and 2-sample t- tests as appropriate (2-sided p values ≤0.05 are considered statistically significant). This study was approved by the New York University School of Medicine IRB. Results: Fifty-two patients (53.8% female) from 50-59 years of age (median 55.5 years) and 54 patients (68.5% female) from 60-69 years of age (median 64.5 years) were identified. In the younger patients, the mean number of visits in the six months pre-diagnosis was 2.4 and 5.3 within 1 year after diagnosis. In the older patient group, the mean number of visits in the six month pre-diagnosis interval was 3.8 and 7.2 within 1 year after diagnosis. There were no significant differences between the two age groups with respect to the differences between the pre to post-diagnoses numbers of clinic visits, hospitalizations or emergency room visits. No patients had received the zoster vaccine pre-diagnosis in the 50-59 age group; six patients received the zoster vaccine pre-diagnosis in the 60-69 age group. Conclusions: Patients between 50-59 and 60-69 years of age with herpes zoster have a similar burden of disease with no difference in the changes from before to after diagnosis of herpes zoster with respect to the total number of clinic visits, hospitalizations, and emergency room visits. This suggests that the benefit of vaccination may be comparable in these two age groups. Our study is limited by a small sample size and limited ophthalmology electronic record implementation at the time of study. Disclosure: N 2016
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