Efficacy and survival of infliximab in psoriasis patients: A single-center experience in China.

Abstract

Psoriasis is a chronic, systemic disease that requires long-term management. Biologic agents have been used widely against psoriasis, such as infliximab. We analyzed the survival and discontinuation rates of infliximab when treating psoriasis under real-world conditions in China. Patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis treated with infliximab in Shanghai Skin Disease Hospital from January 2015 to April 2020 were included in our retrospective study. Information from their medical records (clinical characteristics, Psoriasis Area Severity Index [PASI] score, laboratory results, and time of discontinuation) was collected through the Shanghai Skin Disease Hospital database. The survival of infliximab was assessed with Kaplan-Meier plots and multivariate Cox regression. Forty-two patients who underwent treatment were assessed retrospectively (38.1% had been diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis [PsA]). The discontinuation rate was 57.1%, the mean survival time of discontinuation was 57 weeks for patients with PsA vs 69 weeks for those without PsA (P = .5993). The cholesterol level (P = .003) and lymphocyte percentage (P = .010) were associated with longer survival of infliximab according to Cox regression analysis. Our study revealed that infliximab had a similar drug survival as previous studies, the high cholesterol level and lymphocyte percentage might function as negative predictor for infliximab persistence.