Timing of quality of life improvements in psoriatic patients treated with different systemic therapies.

Psoriasis impacts the quality of life (QoL) by disrupting overall health and social life. Thus, the use of a QoL evaluation item is crucial in assessing a therapeutic regimen. Also, faster improvements in QoL lead to better patient compliance, but very few studies compare psoriasis traditional and biologic therapies timing. To evaluate how much different systemic therapies improve disease severity and QoL, a retrospective analysis was performed on 56 patients. Subjects were administered different drugs and their vital statistics, psoriasis area severity index (PASI) and PSOdisk were collected at baseline and after 30 days. We found a moderate correlation between PASI and PSOdisk score with (r): .62. In terms of clinical scores improvement after 30 days, Ustekinumab turned out to be the fastest therapy available, while cyclosporine, among the systemic therapies available, appeared as highly competitive if not better than other biologic therapies.

Secukinumab efficacy in the treatment of nail psoriasis: a case series.

Nail involvement is frequent in patients with psoriasis, especially those with psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and can significantly impair quality of life (QoL). It is typically difficult to treat compared with skin lesions, although several conventional treatment options are available. The aim of this article is to describe our experience in the treatment of nail psoriasis with secukinumab in a case series. Fifteen patients (11 males and 4 females), with moderate-severe plaque psoriasis and nail psoriasis, eligible for systemic therapy, and received secukinumab. The Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) and body surface area (BSA) assessed cutaneous severity. Nail Psoriasis Severity Index (NAPSI) was used to evaluate nail involvement. Starting from 6 weeks after initiation of treatment with secukinumab 300 mg, a clinically significant response was observed, with progressive reduction of both skin and nail disease indexes. Average reduction of PASI was 75%, of BSA 70%, and of NAPSI 50%, at week 6. At week 12, NAPSI reduction was by 80%, of PASI 90%, and of BSA 97%. Effective treatment of both skin and nail psoriasis was obtained with secukinumab, a new approach to psoriatic patients resistant to topical therapy.

Gender differences in adverse drug reactions in dermatological patients in west Sicily: an epidemiological study.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to show that gender also plays an important role in pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and drug toxicity. It is only fair to take into account the so-called "gender-based medicine." METHODS: We again selected admission for cutaneous adverse drug reaction (CADRs), from January 2012 to July 2012, in order to detect and verify, in an analytical way, the substantial gender differences in adverse drug reactions in term incidence, clinical manifestations, severity and drugs involved. RESULTS: In the period January-July 2012, at the Department of Dermatology and Sexually Transmitted Disease of A.O.U.P. "Paolo Giaccone" Palermo, 384 patients were admitted, of which 192 were females (50%) and 192 males (50%). Out of a total of 384 patients, 34 cases of CADRs (8.9%) were identified including 24 females (71%) and 10 males (29%). CONCLUSIONS: The female gender is an important predisposing factor for the RAF: a large case series showed that in the RAF female/male ratio is 1.7:1.