The purpose of a new article published in Dermatology was to characterize patients with and without psoriasis in challenging-to-treat areas assessed in routine clinical practice.

This was a retrospective observational study that recruited adult patients with psoriasis in the Corrona Psoriasis Registry between April 2015 and May 2018 who initiated a biologic therapy at registry. 

The results exhibited that those in all challenging-to-treat groups reported higher itch and lower EuroQol visual analog scale [EQ VAS] scores than those without the respective challenging-to-treat localization. While patients with nail or palmoplantar psoriasis reported higher pain, fatigue and Dermatology Life Quality Index [DLQI] scores than those without. In fact, higher percentage of patients with scalp or palmoplantar psoriasis experienced work impairment. 

It was concluded that two-thirds of patients with psoriasis who has started with biologic therapy had psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and/or ≥1 challenging-to-treat area. In addition, patients with challenging-to-treat areas had worse outcome scores than those without, signifying a considerable burden of challenging-to-treat areas on patients’ quality of life.

Source: Dermatology 2021;237:46–55. doi: 10.1159/000504841