Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of patients treated with a biologic for psoriasis by number of treatment episodes
| Baseline characteristics | Overalla | Adalimumab | Etanercept | Ixekizumab | Secukinumab | Ustekinumab |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of treatment episodes, n | 3747 | 1448 | 1125 | 51 | 441 | 564 |
| Number of patients with ≥ 1 treatment episode, n | 2292 | 1046 | 974 | 50 | 394 | 488 |
| Male, n (%) | 2230 (59.5) | 946 (65.3) | 675 (60.0) | 31 (60.8) | 267 (60.5) | 354 (62.8) |
| Age at diagnosis | ||||||
| Mean (SD) | 42.1 (14.2) | 41.1 (13.9) | 42.6 (14.4) | 39.8 (14.4) | 42.6 (14.0) | 43.3 (14.4) |
| Median (Q1, Q3) | 41 (31, 54) | 40 (30, 51) | 42 (31, 54) | 41 (26, 53) | 42 (31, 55) | 43 (32, 55) |
| Minimum, maximum | 18, 83 | 18, 82 | 18, 83 | 18, 64 | 18, 76 | 18, 83 |
| PsA diagnosis after index treatment, n (%) | 287 (7.7) | 115 (7.9) | 110 (9.8) | 0 | 12 (2.7) | 34 (6.0) |
| Psoriasis-related concomitant medication, n (%) | ||||||
| Overall | 2950 (78.7) | 1123 (77.6) | 933 (82.9) | 42 (82.4) | 344 (78.0) | 446 (79.1) |
| Topical calcipotriol | 2067 (55.2) | 646 (44.6) | 547 (48.6) | 23 (45.1) | 185 (42.0) | 256 (45.4) |
| Topical steroids | 1726 (46.1) | 752 (51.9) | 610 (54.2) | 26 (51.0) | 257 (58.3) | 341 (60.5) |
| Non-biologic systemic treatmentsb | 817 (21.8) | 342 (23.7) | 294 (26.1) | 4 (7.8) | 64 (14.5) | 73 (12.9) |
| Medications dispensed during biologic treatment episodes, n (%) | ||||||
| Topical calcipotriol | 1329 (35.5) | 508 (35.1) | 435 (38.7) | 15 (29.4) | 142 (32.2) | 210 (37.2) |
| Topical steroids | 1664 (44.4) | 624 (43.1) | 502 (44.6) | 23 (45.1) | 210 (47.6) | 277 (49.1) |
| Systemic treatments | 485 (12.9) | 225 (15.5) | 175 (15.6) | 3 (5.9) | 24 (5.4) | 27 (4.8) |
| Immunosuppressive treatments | 16 (0.4) | 6 (0.4) | 5 (0.4) | 0 | 1 (0.2) | 4 (0.7) |
| Previous biologic treatments, n (%)c | ||||||
| 0 | 2292 (61.2) | 862 (59.5) | 904 (80.4) | 6 (11.8) | 202 (45.8) | 254 (45.0) |
| 1 | 874 (23.3) | 274 (18.9) | 121 (10.8) | 38 (74.5) | 179 (40.6) | 224 (39.7) |
| 2 | 341 (9.1) | 163 (11.3) | 60 (5.3) | 5 (9.8) | 53 (12.2) | 53 (9.4) |
| 3 | 136 (3.6) | 78 (5.4) | 25 (2.2) | 2 (3.9) | 6 (1.4) | 21 (3.7) |
| ≥ 4 | 104 (2.8) | 71 (4.9) | 15 (1.3) | 0 | 1 (0.2) | 12 (2.3) |
| Duration of PsO (from the first PsO diagnosis to end of the follow-up), years | ||||||
| Mean (SD) | 7.7 (3.7) | 7.9 (3.7) | 7.0 (4.5) | 9.1 (3.5) | 7.8 (3.8) | 8.5 (3.5) |
| Median (Q1, Q3) | 7.4 (4.7, 10.8) | 7.9 (4.9, 11.0) | 6.7 (4.0, 10.0) | 9.3 (5.9, 13.0) | 7.4 (5.0, 10.2) | 8.5 (5.7, 11.4) |
| Minimum, maximum | 0.1, 14.6 | 0.2, 14.0 | 0.1, 14.0 | 1.0, 14.1 | 0.7, 14.3 | 0.4, 14.6 |
| Hospitalization for PsOd 1 year prior to initiation of biologic, n (%) | 104 (2.8) | 36 (2.5) | 33 (2.9) | 0 | 14 (3.2) | 20 (3.6) |
| Outpatient visits 1 year prior initiation of biologic, n (%) | 2885 (77.0) | 1157 (79.9) | 860 (76.4) | 37 (72.6) | 329 (74.6) | 468 (83.0) |
PsA Psoriatic arthritis, PsO psoriasis, Q1 25th percentile, Q3 75th percentile, SD standard deviation
aNumbers of patients treated with specific biologics will not sum up to the overall number of patients (N = 2292) as patients could use several different biologic treatments throughout their treatment course; data are not shown for biologics with n < 50 (48 patients were treated with golimumab, 23 were treated with certolizumab pegol, 12 were treated with guselkumab, 11 were treated with infliximab and 4 were treated with brodalumab); however, they were included in the overall group.
b Defined as methotrexate, apremilast and immunosuppressives
cPatients who were treated with biologic therapy before 2010 were excluded. Patients might have had more than 1 treatment episode of biologics. If the patient had 2 treatment episodes with biologics, the second treatment episode was regarded as biologic exposure and, therefore, marked as having 1 previous biologic treatment episode
dPsO as primary diagnosis