Improvement of health-related quality of life and adherence to treatment with calcipotriol-betamethasone dipropionate gel in patients with psoriasis vulgaris*

Improvement of health-related quality of life and adherence to treatment with calcipotriol-betamethasone dipropionate gel in patients with psoriasis vulgaris*

Anais Brasileiros de Dermatologia, January 2016

27192514

George Kontochristopoulos, Anargyros Kouris, Athanasios Chantzaras, Athanasios Petridis, John Yfantopoulos

Psoriasis is a common, chronic, recurrent, immune-mediated disorder of the skin and joints. It can have a significant negative impact on the physical, emotional and psychosocial wellbeing of affected patients. To measure improvement in health-related QoL (HRQoL) in Greek patients with psoriasis vulgaris after a month of treatment with calcipotriol-betamethasone dipropionate gel; and evaluate adherence to treatment parameters. The study included 394 psoriasis vulgaris patients from 16 private dermatological practices in Greece, all treated with calcipotriol-betamethasone dipropionate gel. They were evaluated at the first visit and after 4 weeks. Moreover, they completed the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), while other data such as disease severity, subjective symptoms and adherence, were collected. At week 4, the DLQI median was reduced by 3.5 points from the baseline (p<0.001; baseline and week 4 median: 4.5 and 1.0 respectively). Pruritus and sleep disorders also improved (p<0.001). Furthermore, 90.1% of the subjects fully adhered to treatment, with a 97.1% mean level of compliance. The convincing clinical results, with a distinct improvement in HRQoL, plus the high level of adherence due to its advantageous physical properties, make the calcipotriol-betamethasone dipropionate gel formulation an important, effective and well-tolerated topical therapy to treat psoriasis.