Original ArticleEfficacy and Safety of Systemic Long-Term Treatments for Moderate-to-Severe Psoriasis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Psoriasis as a chronic inflammatory disease often requires effective long-term treatment; a comprehensive systematic evaluation of efficacy and safety of systemic long-term treatments in patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis is lacking. Twenty-five randomized clinical trials were included. Results were pooled and quality of evidence was assessed using GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation). With respect to PASI 75 (psoriasis area and severity index), pooled risk ratios for infliximab (13.07, 95% confidence interval (CI): 8.60-19.87), secukinumab (11.97, 95% CI: 8.83-16.23), ustekinumab (11.39, 95% CI: 8.94-14.51), adalimumab (8.92, 95% CI: 6.33-12.57), etanercept (8.39, 95% CI: 6.74-10.45), and apremilast (5.83, 95% CI: 2.58-13.17) show superiority of biologics and apremilast in long-term therapy compared with placebo. With respect to the addressed safety parameters, no differences were seen between adalimumab, etanercept, or infliximab versus placebo. No placebo-controlled data on conventional treatments was identified. Head-to-head studies showed superior efficacy of secukinumab and infliximab versus etanercept and of infliximab versus methotrexate. A clear ranking is limited by the lack of long-term head-to-head trials. From the available evidence, infliximab, secukinumab, and ustekinumab are the most efficacious long-term treatments. Data on conventionals are insufficient. Further head-to-head comparisons and studies on safety and patient-related outcomes are needed to draw more reliable conclusions.