Data from an international registry showed that patients with psoriasis who received a biologic were less likely to be hospitalized vs patients who received a non-biologic systemic therapy. This data from the PsoProtect registry were published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
Psoriasis has been previously associated with various diseases considered high risk for severe COVID-19 infection, including cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome. The registry was initiated to characterize the course of COVID-19 in patients with psoriasis and to identify factors associated with hospitalization. Clinicians submitted data on a patient with psoriasis with confirmed/suspected COVID-19, and a separate patient-facing registry collected data regarding risk-mitigating behaviors. Multiple logistic regression was used to assess the association between clinical and demographic characteristics and hospitalization rates.
At time of publication, the registry collected 374 clinician-reported patient outcomes from 25 countries. Of these patients, 71%, 18%, and 10% were receiving a biologic therapy, non-biologic systemic therapy, and no systemic treatment, respectively. In regard to COVID-19 outcomes, 348 (93%) patients fully recovered, 77 (21%) patients were hospitalized, and nine (2%) patients died.
On analysis, increased hospitalization risk was associated with older age, male sex, non-White ethnicity, and comorbid lung disease, similarly to the established risk factors for the general, non-psoriasis population. However, hospitalization was more frequently reported in patients receiving non-biologic systemic therapies than in those on biologics (odds ratio, 2.84; 95% CI, 1.31-6.18). Further, no significant differences were found between the different biologic classes.
“Biologic use was associated with lower risk of COVID-19-related hospitalization than non-biologic systemic therapies,” stated the research group. “However, further investigation is warranted due to potential selection bias and unmeasured confounding. Established risk factors were associated with higher hospitalization rates.”
Reference
Mahil SK, Dand N, Mason KJ, et al. Factors associated with adverse COVID-19 outcomes in patients with psoriasis – insights from a global registry-based study. J Allergy Clin Immunol. Published October 16, 2020. doi:10.1016/j.jaci.2020.10.007
