COVID-19 in patients with psoriasis: A Latin American case series

Abstract

The impact that COVID-19 has on patients with psoriasis is not completely clear. It has been reported that patients usually experience mild symptoms; however, pneumonia may develop in up to 15% of these patients, and 5% of patients progress to acute respiratory distress syndrome. 1 Controversy over the use of human monoclonal antibodies against cytokines (biologics) and other immunomodulatory therapies has increased the interest in the dermatologic community, since it is presumed that these patients may have a greater risk of requiring in-hospital management during acute infection. 1,2 We conducted a case series study. Data were collected in 13 cities in 4 Latin American countries from April to December 2020 via an online survey addressed to dermatologists who treated patients with psoriasis who presented with COVID-19 in their follow-up visits. As eligibility criteria, the following were taken into account: diagnosis of psoriasis and confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 through immunologic tests. Descriptive analysis included absolute and relative frequencies for qualitative variables and central tendency measures with dispersion for quantitative variables. Crude odds ratios were calculated for relevant outcomes and reported with their 95% CIs.

Clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with COVID‐19 and psoriasis

“…Finally, a total of 19 studies were included in the meta‐analysis. 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 …”

“…Of these, 31 were excluded for the following reasons: patients with suspected but not confirmed SARS‐CoV‐2 infection ( n = 10), review ( n = 2), and inaccessible outcomes ( n = 19). Finally, a total of 19 studies were included in the meta‐analysis 4–20 …”

“…Finally, a total of 19 studies were included in the meta-analysis. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] The main characteristics and clinical outcomes of the studies were shown in Table S2-6. In general, 4073 patients with COVID-19 and psoriasis were included, of which about 48.9% were men and 51.1% were women; most of the patients were over 45 years of age since the diagnosis of COVID-19 (Table S2).…”

“… 2 , 3 Increasing studies have tried to explore the clinical characteristics and outcomes among patients with COVID‐19 and psoriasis. 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 However, small sample size and inconsistent results highlight the significance of a comprehensive analysis.…”

“…The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic raises concerns for psoriasis patients, especially those with moderate to severe psoriasis, because those patients usually had multi‐comorbidities including hypertension, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity, which is tightly associated with the clinical severity of COVID‐19 2,3 . Increasing studies have tried to explore the clinical characteristics and outcomes among patients with COVID‐19 and psoriasis 4‐20 . However, small sample size and inconsistent results highlight the significance of a comprehensive analysis.…”