OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to look for racial disparity, if any, amongst Psoriatic patients living in the US

METHODS: Using Optum’s de-identified Clinformatics® Data Mart database, psoriatic patients were identified from both Commercial and Medicare advantage data, between 1^st January 2018 to 31^st December 2020 using ICD-10-CM diagnosis codes. The first diagnosis date of the disease in claims was considered as the index event. All these patients were studied for 12 months post their index date to look for evidence of any racial disparity in: a) Treatment rate by drug therapy for psoriasis (systemic or topical), b) mean time to treatment to initiation of treatment for psoriasis, c) average duration of treatment for psoriasis. %). Chi square test was used to see the level of significance for rate of treatment and T-test for time to initiation of treatment and average duration of treatment.

RESULTS: Among 155,825 newly diagnosed patients of psoriasis included in the study, 10.1% (15,735) received drug therapy for psoriasis (systemic – 23.4% & topical – 76.6). We observed no disparity in treatment rate among Caucasians & African Americans however there was a significant difference in the time to initiation of treatment and average duration of treatment. In Caucasians, the average time to treatment was significantly lower (mean - 67 days) than that in African Americans (mean – 83 days) (p < 0.0001). Also, the average duration of treatment was significantly higher in Caucasians (mean – 287 days) as compared to African Americans (mean – 244 days) (p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest a significant disparity in total treatment days and time to initiation of treatment between Caucasians and African Americans.