Efficacy of tazarotene/betamethasone dipropionate cream at different concentration ratios in the treatment of psoriasis vulgaris: a clinical observation / 中华皮肤科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy and safety of tazarotene/betamethasone dipropionate cream at different concentration ratios in the treatment of psoriasis vulgaris, and to determine the optimal drug concentration ratio for clinical use.Methods:A multicenter, randomized, double-blinded, multi-dose controlled study was conducted. From December 2008 to April 2009, a total of 180 patients with psoriasis vulgaris were enrolled from 7 research centers, such as Hospital for Skin Diseases, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College. These patients were randomly and equally divided into 5 groups: treatment groups 1, 2, 3, 4 treated with tazarotene/betamethasone dipropionate cream at concentration ratios of 0.025%/0.025%, 0.05%/0.025%, 0.025%/0.05% and 0.05%/0.05% respectively once a day, and control group treated with the cream vehicle once a day. The treatment lasted 4 weeks. Efficacy and safety were evaluated after 1, 2 and 4 weeks of treatment. One-way analysis of variance and least significant difference (LSD)- t test were used to compare measurement data among several groups, chi-square test and Fisher′s exact test to compare categorical data among groups, and Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel (CMH) test to compare psoriasis area severity index (PASI) response rates between groups. Results:After 4 weeks of treatment, 11 patients (30.56%) , 12 (33.33%) , 12 (33.33%) , 19 (52.78%) and 2 (5.56%) in the treatment groups 1, 2, 3, 4 and control group respectively achieved a 75% reduction in PASI (PASI75) , and the proportions of patients achieving PASI75 were significantly higher in the treatment groups than in the control group (all P < 0.012 7) . Additionally, the proportions of patients achieving PASI90 were also significantly higher in the treatment groups 1, 2 and 4 than in the control group (all P < 0.012 7) . After 4 weeks of treatment, the rates of reduction in PASI scores were 59.52% ± 26.79%, 57.19% ± 31.98%, 56.85% ± 30.46% and 68.21% ± 37.20% in treatment groups 1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively, which were all significantly higher than the rate of reduction in the control group (20.07% ± 28.55%; LSD- t = 5.36, 5.05, 5.00, 6.55, all P < 0.001) . The treatment group 4 showed marked comprehensive efficacy. All the tested drugs were well tolerated in the patients, and adverse reactions occurred in 11 (30.56%) , 8 (22.22%) , 2 (5.56%) , 4 (11.11%) and 2 (5.56%) cases in the treatment groups 1, 2, 3, 4 and control group respectively. The incidence rate of adverse reactions was significantly higher in the treatment group 1 than in the control group ( P = 0.012) , and there was no significant difference among the treatment groups 2, 3, 4 and control group (all P > 0.05) . Conclusion:The tazarotene 0.05%/betamethasone dipropionate 0.05% cream can be recommended for subsequent clinical trials in psoriasis vulgaris.