Background: Biologics have revolutionized psoriasis treatment; however, relapse of psoriasis after discontinuation of biologics remains unresolved.
Objective: To assess the impact of adjunctive Chinese medicine (CM) therapy on relapse of psoriasis vulgaris (PV) after discontinuation of biologics.
Methods: We constructed a prospective cohort study through a psoriasis case registry platform that enrolled patients treated with biologics (in combination with or without CM). The endpoint event was relapse, defined as loss of psoriasis area and severity index (PASI) 75.
Results: A total of 391 patients completed the study and were included in the analysis, of whom 169 (43.2%) experienced relapse during follow-up. To minimize the bias, a 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM) was performed, generating matched cohorts of 156 individuals per group. Adjuvant CM therapy significantly associated with reduced incidence of relapse (HR =0.418, 95% CI = 0.289 ∼ 0.604, p < 0.001), and the protective effect of CM in the subgroup analysis was significant. In addition, PASI 90 response and disease duration were associated with relapse (p < 0.05).
Conclusion: Adjunctive CM therapy is associated with reduced relapse incidence in PV after discontinuation of biologics.
Keywords: Chinese medicine; Psoriasis vulgaris; biologics; propensity score matching; relapse.