Study Finds Biologic Use Associated With PsA Development

A retrospective cohort study found that biologic use was associated with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) among patients with psoriasis. The results of the study by Meer et al were published in Annals of Rheumatic Diseases.

The study included 193,079 patients with psoriasis between the ages of 16 and 90 who initiated a therapy for psoriasis and who were included in the OptumInsights Electronic Health Record Database between 2006 and 2017. Therapies included oral, biologic, or phototherapy, and incidence of PsA was calculated and stratified by these groups.

Among the included patients, 14,569 used a biologic and 20,321 used either oral therapy or phototherapy. Overall, incidence of PsA was 9.75 per 1000 person-years (PY); incidence of PsA per individual therapy were 77.26 per 1000 PY for biologics, 61.99 per 1000 PY for oral therapy, 26.11 per 1000 PY for phototherapy, and 5.85 per 1000 PY for treatment other than the target therapies. Adjusted hazard ratio was 4.48 for biologics vs oral or phototherapy.

These results, wrote the study authors, indicate that biologic use is associated with PsA among patients with psoriasis, but “this may be related to confounding by indication and protopathic bias.”

Reference
Meer E, Merola JF, Fitzsimmons R, et al. Does biologic therapy impact the development of PsA among patients with psoriasis? Ann Rheum Dis. Published online October 6, 2021. doi:10.1136/annrheumdis-2021-220761