Do treatments for psoriasis increase the risk of hospital admission or death caused by COVID-19 infections?

Abstract

Abstract Linked Article: Penso et al. Br J Dermatol 2022; 186:59–68. One of the difficult dilemmas facing doctors treating patients with psoriasis during the COVID-19 pandemic has been whether to continue treatments for the disease that potentially may reduce the patient’s resistance to infection. In this study from France the investigating team compared the risk (chance) of admissions to hospital and death among patients with psoriasis receiving different types of treatment for psoriasis compared with patients with psoriasis who were not receiving treatment. The medications studied included topically applied medicines (i.e. ones applied to the skin), oral medicines and biologic medicines; in both of these last groups the medications are designed to reduce some aspects of the immune response. The team used information from patients with psoriasis registered in the French national health data system, which is a database that covers the entire population of France (67 million people). They reviewed data from two time periods covering different waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in France, 15 February to 30 June 2020 and 1 October 2020 to 31 January 2021. They used information from 1.3 million patients with psoriasis; over the first study period, 3871 patients were admitted to hospital with COVID-19 and 759 (20%) died and during the second period 3603 were admitted to hospital with COVID-19 and 686 (19%) died. Although the use of topical and non-biologic treatments in the first period and any treatment in the second period was associated with an increased risk of being admitted to hospital, there was no increased risk of death in any of the treated groups in either period. These results suggest that systemic treatments for patients with psoriasis should be continued during the pandemic. Linked Article: Penso et al. Br J Dermatol 2022; 186:59–68.