Acne is one of the commonest dermatological diseases and this is a first large-scale case control study aiming to reveal psychosocial impact. This analysis was based on a multicenter study including 213 acne patients over 18 years and 213 age-sex matched controls. We found that patients with acne are more likely to express anxiety, depression, pain and discomfort, and suicidal thoughts than the general population. Clinicians must be alert to these symptoms and where present consider the possibility of an underlying psychiatric component. This awareness may improve recognition of patient concerns and allow clinicians to optimize treatment. The link between acne and psychiatric morbidities has been demonstrated in many studies; however, large scale studies aiming to reveal the psychosocial impact of acne are rare. The aim of this study was to assess the psychological burden of adult acne patients. This analysis was based on a multicenter study including 213 acne patients and 213 controls from 13 European countries. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Dermatology Life Quality Index, and EuroQol 5 dimensions 3 levels scores of the patients with acne were analyzed. Patients with acne (n = 213) had higher HADS scores for anxiety (mean ± standard deviation 6.70 ± 3.84) and depression (3.91 ± 3.43) than the controls (p < 0.001 for both). For patients with acne, 40.6% reported that they were very concerned about their skin disease, 12.3% had suicidal ideation, and, among those, 10 (4%) patients implied that acne was the cause of their suicidal thoughts. After adjusting for other variables, patients who had suicidal ideation (p = 0.007, and adjusted odds ratio 3.32 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.39-7.93]) and stressful life events (p < 0.001, and adjusted OR 5.85 [95% CI: 2.65-12.86]) had a greater chance of fulfilling the HADS criteria for anxiety. This study highlights the need for a psychotherapeutic approach in order to recognize the concerns of acne patients and optimize their treatment.

Background Drug survival is useful to evaluate long‐term drug performance in daily practice. The aim of this study was to evaluate drug survival for methotrexate (MTX) monotherapy in patients with plaque‐type psoriasis. Methods We reviewed 3,512 follow‐up charts of patients with psoriasis at five tertiary referral centers between January 2012 and January 2020. We analyzed baseline data and treatment outcomes of patients under MTX monotherapy. Drug survival was analyzed using Kaplan‐Meier and Cox regression analyses. Results Patients with psoriasis who were treated with MTX monotherapy were enrolled (N = 649). The median duration of drug survival was 15 months (95% CI: 13.2–16.8). The overall drug survival rate was 54.7%, 17.4%, and 8% after 1, 3, and 5 years, respectively. The main reasons for discontinuation were adverse effects (n = 209, 32.2%) and inefficacy (n = 105, 15.6%). Based on multivariate Cox regression analysis, the presence of nausea/vomiting (HR: 2.01, 95% CI: 1.49–2.71; P < 0.001) was observed as a statistically significant risk factor for drug discontinuation. Age over 50 years (HR: 0.68, 95% CI: 0.48–0.97; P = 0.03) and using MTX dose ≥15 mg/weekly were positive predictors for drug survival (HR: 0.72, 95% CI: 0.54–0.95; P = 0.02). Conclusions The average drug survival of MTX was 15 months. MTX is still the first‐line treatment of moderate‐to‐severe plaque psoriasis, as highlighted in guidelines. To prevent premature discontinuation, physicians need to look at the response time of at least 16–24 weeks, especially when a stepwise dose increment is used. The presence of nausea/vomiting seemed to be associated with an approximately twofold risk of discontinuation.

Background. Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic, relapsing and debilitating inflammatory disease associated with profound morbidity. Aim. In this multicentre study, we investigated the demographic and clinical features of HS, and determined risk factors of disease severity. Methods. In total, 1221 patients diagnosed with HS from 29 centres were enrolled, and the medical records of each patient were reviewed. Results. The mean age of disease onset was 26.2 AE 10.4 years, and almost 70% (n = 849) of patients were current or former smokers. Mean disease duration was 8.9 AE 8.4 years with a delay in diagnosis of 5.8 AE 3.91 years. Just over a fifth (21%; n = 256) of patients had a family history of HS. The axillary, genital and neck

Background/Objective: The purpose of our study was to provide evidence on the treatment choices, reasons, and results of switching between biologic agents in treating patients with psoriasis. Methods: We conducted a retrospective database search of six tertiary referral centers for pso­riasis patients between January 2007 and May 2019. We analyzed patient and treatment characteristics of all patients in the registry. Results: We enrolled 427 psoriatic patients treated with biologics, and 145 (34%) required a switch to another biologic. The reasons for discontinuing the first biologic agent were inefficacy (n = 106, 62.4%), adverse events (n = 28, 16.5%), and others (n = 36, 21.2%). At week 12, there was a 67.7% reduction in the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) score of patients treated with their first biologic, and 51.4% reduction for the second. A drug survival analysis showed no statistically significant difference between the drug survival of first-line biologic agents, but ustekinumab had the highest survival rate among second-line biologics (log-rank p = 0.010). Multivariate analyses for overall drug discontinuation showed that the occurrence of psoriatic arthritis (OR: 1.883, 95% CI: 1.274–2.782, p = 0.001), nail involvement (OR: 2.334, 95% CI: 1.534–3.552, p < 0.001), and use of concomitant treatment (OR: 2.303, 95% CI: 1.403 –3.780, p = 0.001) are predictors for discontinuation. Conclusion: Discontinuation of treatment was most commonly due to inefficacy. Patients who switched to a different biologic agent showed a similar improvement in PASI scores compared to biologic-naive patients. Switching to a second biologic therapy due to inefficacy or adverse events caused by the first one may improve psoriasis.