OBJECTIVE: To describe the disease characteristics in Chinese adult patients with psoriasis receiving interleukin-17A (IL-17A) inhibitors in a tertiary care clinic in Changsha, China.

METHOD: The prescriptions of patients visiting a Chinese tertiary care clinic for psoriasis from May 2019 to September 2021 were collected to identify psoriasis patients receiving IL-17A inhibitors. We reviewed the medical records of the patients to collect demographics, social economic status, lifestyle, disease severity index, treatment history, and comorbidities. The patient characteristics were summarized using descriptive statistic methods (mean and standard deviation for continuous variables and percentage for categorical variables).

RESULTS: 335 patients (35.2% receiving Ixekizumab and 64.8% receiving Secukinumab) were included for data analysis. The average age, psoriasis onset age, male proportion, body mass index, and body weight of the included patients were 41.0±13.8 years, 30.1±14.2 years, 68.1%, 24.2±4.0 kg/m², and 68.1±14.2 kg respectively. 45.6% of the included patients had smoking history and 80.5% of the patients had a monthly income of less than ¥6,000. Among the included patients, psoriasis vulgaris (82.1%) was the main psoriasis type; the proportions of mild, moderate, and severe psoriasis were 9.4%, 25.2%, and 65.4% respectively. Psoriasis Area and Severity Index, Body Surface Area, Dermatology Life Quality Index, and Physician Global Assessment were 12.6±8.3, 20.6%±17.8%, 7.7±5.7, and 3.5±1.0 respectively. The main skin lesion sites included scalp (50.8%), lower limbs (23.4%), and body trunk (13.1%). The previous treatments included Chinese traditional medicine (49.6%), chemical immunosuppressants (36.7%), tretinoin (29.0%), biologics drugs (9.3%), and/or phototherapy (9.3%). The main comorbidity was metabolic syndrome (30.4%). The abnormal C-reactive protein and erythrocyte sedimentation rate in these patients were 11.0% and 21.1%, respectively.

CONCLUSION: Chinese psoriasis patients receiving IL-17A inhibitors in real-world setting mainly had moderate to severe disease and had no previous biologic treatments.