Biologic Use Tied to Risk of Serious Infections in Patients With Psoriasis

Biologic use is associated with a significantly higher risk for serious infections, especially skin and soft tissue infections and meningitis, compared with nonbiologic use among patients with psoriasis, according to a recent study.

Although biologic therapy is known to be effective in treating moderate-to-severe psoriasis, existing evidence has suggested that it may be associated with a higher risk for serious infections.
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For their study, the researchers evaluated 5889 adult patients with psoriasis who had ever been treated with systemic therapies. All patients included in the study were Kaiser Permanente Northern California health plan members.

The researchers determined incidence rates and 95% confidence intervals for serious infections over 29,717 person-years of follow-up. Adjusted hazard ratios were also calculated via Cox regression. Results were adjusted for age, sex, race/ethnicity, and comorbidities.

Following adjustment, results indicated that patients treated with biologics had a significantly increased risk for overall serious infection compared with those treated with nonbiologics. In particular, the researchers noted significantly higher risks of skin and soft tissue infections and meningitis during periods of active biologic use.

“We found an increased rate of skin and soft tissue infections among patients with psoriasis treated with biologic agents,” the researchers concluded. “There also was a signal suggesting increased risk for meningitis. Clinicians should be aware of these potential adverse events when prescribing biologic agents.”

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Dobry AS, Quesenberry CP, Ray GT, Geier JL, Asgari MM. Serious infections among a large cohort of subjects with systemically treated psoriasis [Published online September 13, 2017]. J Am Acad Dermatol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaad.2017.07.047.