Exploratory Retrospective Assessment of Patients with Psoriasis Receiving Biological Therapy.

Background and

Objectives

Biological therapies improve disease severity and quality of life in patients with psoriasis, but data on Romanian patients remain limited. Our study aimed to characterize patients with psoriasis from Transylvania and to evaluate the impact of biologics on disease severity, treatment switching, affected special areas response, quality of life, and laboratory biomarkers. Materials and

Methods

We conducted a retrospective exploratory study at two centers in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, using routinely collected medical data.

Results

One-hundred and fifteen patients (aged 2-72 years) were evaluated; 45 patients received anti-TNF, 43 received anti-IL-17, and 27 received anti-IL-23. Patients treated with anti-IL-17 or anti-IL-23 were older at diagnosis than those treated with anti-TNF (p = 0.0001). Psoriatic lesions were prevalent in the scalp (58.3%) and nails (36.5%). Methotrexate was the most common prior systemic therapy (87.8%), with no difference between the groups (p = 0.7668). Patients receiving anti-TNF therapy (46.7%) or anti-IL-17 therapy (20.9%) also most frequently received prior treatment with systemic retinoids. Cardiometabolic comorbidities, including hypertension (40.9%) and diabetes mellitus (20.9%), were prevalent. Anti-IL-17 therapies were used more frequently in patients with hypertension (46.5%), diabetes mellitus (34.9%), and psoriatic arthritis (34.9%). Baseline severity scores were comparable across the groups (p > 0.10). A therapeutic switch occurred in approximately one-quarter of the patients, most frequently in the anti-TNF group (57.8%), which also showed higher PASI and DLQI scores at switching (p < 0.0001). At 36 weeks, anti-IL-17 and anti-IL-23 therapies demonstrated superior outcomes compared to anti-TNF therapy (p = 0.045). All patients receiving anti-IL-23 therapy achieved a PASI 100 at the 60-week follow-up. Significant improvements in PASI and DLQI were observed for all biologics (p < 0.0001).

Conclusions

Biological therapies were associated with significant improvements in disease severity and quality of life. Anti-TNF therapies were switched more frequently due to reduced efficacy, while clinical improvement was observed regardless of lesion localization.