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Multicenter Study
. 2016 Apr;91(2):160-6.
doi: 10.1590/abd1806-4841.20164476.

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

George Kontochristopoulos  1 , Anargyros Kouris  1 , Athanasios Chantzaras  2 , Athanasios Petridis  1 , John Yfantopoulos  2
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

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

George Kontochristopoulos et al. An Bras Dermatol. 2016 Apr.

Abstract

Background: 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.

Objectives: 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.

Methods: 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.

Results: 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.

Conclusions: 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.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None.

Figures

Graph 1
Graph 1
Impact of psoriasis on dermatology-specific quality of life at baseline and at week 4 (n=394)
Graph 2
Graph 2
Disease severity at baseline and at week 4 (n=393)
Graph 3
Graph 3
Patient’s global impression of change in their condition at week 4
Graph 4
Graph 4
Changes in psoriasis-related subjective symptoms of pruritus and sleep disorders at week 4 (n=393)
Graph 5
Graph 5
Patients per reason for compliance (n=354)
Graph 6
Graph 6
Patients per reason for non-compliance (n=38)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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