Female patients are less satisfied with biological treatment for psoriasis and experience more side‐effects than male patients: results from the prospective BioCAPTURE registry

Abstract

Background Female sex has been reported as a predictor for treatment discontinuation with biological therapies for psoriasis, although reasons remain unclear. It can be hypothesized that lower satisfaction with biological treatment in women might add to the lower drug survival rates.Objectives To identify possible differences in satisfaction with biological treatment between female and male patients using the Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication (TSQM). Methods Data of psoriasis patients treated with biologics were obtained from the prospective, multicentre, daily-practice BioCAPTURE registry. Longitudinal TSQM data were analysed by linear mixed models. Relevant patient characteristics were incorporated as possible confounding factors. Post hoc analysis of adverse events was performed in order to investigate differences between sexes. ResultsWe included 315 patients with 396 corresponding treatment episodes (137 adalimumab, 90 etanercept, 137 ustekinumab, 24 secukinumab and 8 infliximab). Almost forty per cent of the patients were female. Women had significantly lower baseline PASI scores (P = 0.01). Longitudinal analyses demonstrated lower TSQM scores for 'side-effects' (P = 0.05) and 'global satisfaction' (P = 0.01) in female patients compared with male patients over 1 year of treatment. Women reported more relevant adverse events in the context of biologic treatment compared to men (rate ratio 1.79; P < 0.001), with more fungal (rate ratio 2.20; P = 0.001) and herpes simplex infections (rate ratio 3.25; P = 0.005). ConclusionsThis study provides a prospective, longitudinal analysis of treatment satisfaction with biologics in female and male patients with psoriasis. Women were slightly less satisfied with treatment regarding side-effects and global satisfaction. Differences in treatment satisfaction and side-effects might add to the fact that women discontinue biological treatments more often. Conflict of interestLS van der Schoot has no conflict of interest. JMPA van den Reek carries out clinical trials for AbbVie, Celgene and Janssen and has received speaking fees from AbbVie and Janssen and reimbursement for attending a symposium from Celgene and AbbVie. All funding is not personal but goes to the independent research fund of the department of dermatology of Radboud university medical centre Nijmegen, the Netherlands. ME Otero has acted as consultant for Eli Lilly. JM Mommers has received consultant fees and speaker fees of Janssen, JEADV Celgene and Novartis. WP Arnold carried out clinical trials for LEO Pharma, received speaking fees from AbbVie and reimbursement for attending symposia of Janssen, Pfizer, AbbVie and UCB Pharma. EMGJ de Jong has received research grants for the independent research fund of the department of dermatology of the Radboud university medical centre, Nijmegen, the Netherlands from AbbVie, Pfizer and Janssen; has acted as consultant and/or paid speaker for and/or participated in research sponsored by companies that manufacture drugs used for the treatment of psoriasi...

Effect of Sex in Systemic Psoriasis Therapy: Differences in Prescription, Effectiveness and Safety in the BIOBADADERM Prospective Cohort

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Demographic data, comorbidities, quality of life, and survival probability of biologic therapy associated with sex‐specific differences in psoriasis in the Czech Republic

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