Alcohol abuse and discretionary habits in psoriatic patients: impact on IL-17 and IL-23 inhibitors response.

BACKGROUND

Alcohol abuse is correlated with the onset and worsening of psoriasis, but its effects, as for smoking, on biological therapies are still poorly investigated.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

This study aimed to determine the prevalence of alcohol abuse and other discretionary habits (such as smoking and sedentary lifestyle) in patients with psoriasis treated with topicals, conventional systemic and biologic therapies. The second objective is to investigate the impact of discretionary habits, focusing on alcohol abuse, on the response to biological therapy. To identify alcohol dependence, the CAGE questionnaire was distributed among patients of our clinic.

RESULTS

305 patients were included with 18% at high risk of alcohol abuse. Clinically, guttate psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis were more common in patients at higher risk of alcohol abuse. Furthermore, patients with an alcohol problem who started biological therapy reported a higher PASI than those who drank less. None of the considered variables seemed to correlate with discontinuation of medication or with lower achievement of the analyzed outcomes (PASI100, PASI90, and PASI≤3). There was a stronger association between alcohol dependence and patients receiving conventional therapy than with patients receiving biologics.

CONCLUSIONS

The efficacy of biologicals did not seem to be impacted by alcohol consumption, smoking, or sedentary lifestyle.