We used US PharMetrics adjudicated claims (2015-2020) to compare the prevalence of healthcare conditions and services used by FSHD patients (ICD-10 G71.02) vs non-FSHD MCs. The FSHD cohort had ≥2 FSHD claims ≥30 days apart; index date being initial diagnosis date (FSHD). Controls were matched (5-MC:1-FSHD) on month of index date (matching enrollment month), age, region, gender, plan and payer types. Healthcare conditions and services used were compared during the year before diagnosis using the US Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ) categories.

We identified 290 FSHD patients and 1450 MCs. The following differences were significant (p<0.05): FSHD patients had more Charlson comorbidity index scores ≥1 than MCs (18.6% vs 11.7%). Overall, the prevalence of conditions and use of services were higher in FSHD patients vs. MCs. The largest differences in condition prevalence were “other nervous system disorders” (74% vs 12%), “other connective tissue disease” (49% vs 21%), “malaise and fatigue” (25% vs 8%) and “spondylosis, intervertebral disc disorders, other back problems” (36% vs 20%). Mean number of services used were consistent with findings that FSHD has a greater burden prior to diagnosis.