Psoriasis

Women of childbearing age with rheumatic diseases worldwide fail to receive appropriate information about the family planning and pregnancy continuum, according to findings presented at EULAR 2019. Healio Rheumatology took a closer look at the data and sat down with several key opinion leaders for a roundtable discussion to gain deeper understanding of how to resolve these issues.

Patients with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis had a 20% increase in the long-term risk for atrial fibrillation although the absolute risk remains low, according to findings from a 35-year cohort study.

In patients with psoriasis, the median time between first and last biologic prescriptions was between 3.3 and 7 months with up to 50% of patients not prescribed a second prescription for the medication, according to researchers in Journal of Drugs in Dermatology.

Women aged 46 to 65 years prescribed spironolactone for acne had a higher rate of incident hyperkalemia compared with younger women, which warrants further potassium monitoring guidance and protocols, according to Rebecca M. Thiede, MD, resident and fellow of the division of dermatology at University of Arizona College of Medicine-Tucson, and colleagues in the most popular Healio Dermatology article from last week.

Older adults are more likely to be poorly represented in randomized controlled trials of systemic treatment for plaque psoriasis, according to findings published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Earlier this month, Healio Dermatology posted a compilation of eight popular reads to kickoff Psoriasis Action Month in psoriasis research, advocacy and FDA news.

Private equity-based dermatology practice consolidation increased at a mean rate of 65% each year from 2012 to 2017, according to researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, in the current top story from August.

Taltz met the primary and secondary endpoints at week 12 in a phase 4 head-to-head study comparing its efficacy and safety vs. Tremfya in patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, according to an announcement from Eli Lilly and Company.

August is Psoriasis Action Month, a national initiative to encourage understanding and enhance education about this common disease. According to the National Psoriasis Foundation, psoriasis affects more than 8 million Americans and roughly 125 million people worldwide.

There is a small but statistically significant increased risk for cancer in patients with psoriasis, which is mainly driven by lymphoma and nonmelanoma skin cancer, Megan H. Noe, MD, MPH, MSCE, of the department of dermatology at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston, said in an interview with Healio Dermatology.