Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Most psoriasis patients taking immunosuppressants survive COVID-19


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-10/nifh-mpp102020.php

News Release 20-Oct-2020
National Institute for Health Research

Patients with psoriasis who are taking drugs that affect their immune system have high rates of survival from COVID-19. According to the first findings from a global registry of psoriasis and COVID-19 patients, led by Guy's and St Thomas' clinicians, over 90% survive.

The researchers found that the risk factors of severe COVID-19 outcomes in patients reported to the registry were similar to the general population.


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Psoriasis is a skin condition that causes red, flaky, crusty plaques of skin covered with silvery scales and affects around 2% of people in the UK. It is thought to be related to a problem in the immune system, so dermatologists have been working to understand how COVID-19 and the condition may interact.

Patients with moderate to severe disease are treated with drugs that affect the immune system including biologics that target specific immune proteins, or traditional tablet immunosuppressants, and many of these patients were asked to shield during the pandemic.

Dr Satveer Mahil, a consultant dermatologist at the St John's Institute of Dermatology at Guy's and St Thomas', co-leads the registry. She said: "Our analysis is important for informing our conversations with patients as the pandemic continues. We can reassure our patients that the survival for people with psoriasis is high, and the risk factors for psoriasis patients are similar to those of the general population.

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Most of the cases - 348 (93%) fully recovered from COVID-19, 77 (21%) were hospitalized and nine (2%) died. The study found that, similarly to the general population, patients who were older, male, of non-white ethnicity and with other health conditions such as chronic lung disease were more likely to require hospital admission for their COVID-19 infection.


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