Biologics may stave off arthritis in people with psoriasis: study
Patients with risk factors for psoriatic arthritis might benefit from starting the agents early, the researchers say
People with psoriasis who are treated with biologics are at reduced risk of incident psoriatic arthritis compared with those on conventional drugs, Israeli researchers say.
The authors, including a dermatologist and a rheumatologist, believe their paper is the first to demonstrate such an effect.
In the retrospective cohort study, using electronic records from Israel’s second-largest health provider, 663 patients with psoriasis being treated with biologics were compared with the same number of closely-matched patients treated with non-biologic therapies.
The mean age of diagnosis was 36 years and about half the participants were either current or former smokers.
