Flare Outbreak of Hidradenitis Suppurativa Associated With Response to Adalimumab

Flare outbreaks in patients with hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) are a predictive factor of response to adalimumab according to researchers out of Italy.

“The aim was to investigate the role of flare outbreak as a possible predictive factor of response to adalimumab,” wrote the study authors.

Researchers performed a retrospective analysis in which they identified 115 patients with HS who were treated with adalimumab and who had moderate-severe HS and three or more abscesses and inflammatory-nodules (ANs). Baseline characteristics, total number, and timeline of flares were analyzed by regression and survival analysis with Hidradenitis Suppurativa Clinical Response (HiSCR).

During the study observation period, 80.9% of patients developed flares (n=252 flares). In an univariate model, five factors were associated with an absence of response, including age, comorbidities, genital-perineal involvement, no response at week 12, and flares outbreak. A further joint analysis of recurrent and terminal events showed a positive relationship between the recurrence of flares and no-response.

“The analysis of a ‘dynamic’ variable, as flares evaluation together with an appropriate clinical baseline assessment can be a useful approach to predict the middle-long-term response to adalimumab,” concluded the study authors.

Reference
Caposiena Caro RD, Chiricozzi A, Sechi A, et al. Flares as dynamic predictive factor of response to adalimumab in hidradenitis suppurativa, real-life data. Ital J Dermatol Venerol. 2021;10.23736/S2784-8671.21.07049-3. doi:10.23736/S2784-8671.21.07049-3