COVID-19 and biologics for psoriasis: A high-epidemic area experience—Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy

Management of biological therapies for chronic plaque psoriasis during COVID‐19 emergency in Italy

“…2 The first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Lombardy on 20 February 2020, and subsequently, a rapid increase in the number of detected cases was observed, spreading through Italy and the rest of Europe. 3 As of 22 April, confirmed COVID-19 cases in Italy were 183 957. 2,4 Because of the impaired immunologic status of patients with psoriasis, their clinical management is challenging in the pandemic, particularly for those using biologics inhibiting key pathogenic cytokines such as TNF-a, IL-17, IL-12/23 or IL-23.…”

“…Because of the need of social distancing imposed by healthcare authorities to prevent the spread of the disease, the demand for telehealth increased dramatically. [1][2][3] We aimed to investigate teledermatology (TD) use and doctors' perception during the recent pandemic. The TD task force of the EADV (European Academy of Dermatology and Venerology) ideated an online survey that was spread via email among dermatologists with the support of EADV, AIDNID (Italian Association of Non Invasive Imaging in Dermatology) and SIDeMast (Italian Society of Dermatology and Venerology).…”

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 and the Use of Biologics in Patients With Psoriasis

“…Another report of 159 patients with plaque psoriasis treated with biologics found that 18 (11.3%) developed symptoms suggestive of COVID-19, with one patient developing severe disease that required hospitalization. 38 Though both of these studies were limited by the lack of a comparator group, they provide further reassurance that patients with psoriasis being treated with biologics are not at a substantially elevated risk of acquiring severe COVID-19.…”

Use of biologics in the era of COVID-19: Where do we stand?

“…Although the control for biologics-treated groups is the general population rather than patients treated without biologics, the proportion of polymerase chain reaction–confirmed cases in the biologics-treated group is low (approximately 0%-1.8%). Given that the proportion of suspected (not confirmed but symptomatic) cases in the biologics-treated group varies by study, with up to 18% suspected cases being reported, 3 it is important to distinguish and manage high-risk patients. To properly interpret these data, it is necessary to face the limitations of remarkably low proportions of infected patients in the biologics-treated group, limited adjustment of clinical parameters, and heterogeneity of design between studies.…”

“…of COVID-19–infected patients (%) Count No. of COVID-19–infected patients (%) Gisondi P et al 1 Italy Psoriasis 5206 53.2 ± 11.2 1:0.84 Anti–TNF-α antibody (32.2) Anti–IL-12/23 antibody (26.7) Anti–IL-23 antibody (2.7) Anti–IL-17 antibody (38.3) 6 (0.12) Damiani G et al 2 Italy Psoriasis 1193 55 1:0.47 Anti–TNF-α antibody (19.9) Anti–IL-12/23 antibody (45.4) Anti–IL-17 antibody (5.2) 22 (1.84) 10,060,574 54,801 (0.54) Gisondi P et al 3 Italy Psoriasis 980 56.4 ± 12.4 1:0.72 Anti–TNF-α antibody (50.0) Anti–IL-12/23 antibody (17.0) Anti–IL-23 antibody (0.0) Anti–IL-17 antibody (28.0) 0 257,353 3199 (1.24) Carugno A et al 4 Italy Psoriasis 159 51.5 ± 14.0 1:0.39 Anti–TNF-α antibody (33.3) Anti–IL-12/23 antibody or anti–IL-23 antibody (18.9) Anti–IL-17 antibody (47.8) 29 (18.24) ∗ Giulia R et al 5 Italy Hidradenitis suppurativa 96 35 ND Anti–TNF-α antibody (47.9) Anti–IL-17 antibody (11.5) 0 Carungo A et al 6 Italy Atopic der...…”