Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Nov;36(11):2076-2086.
doi: 10.1111/jdv.18361. Epub 2022 Jul 6.

Children with psoriasis and COVID-19: factors associated with an unfavourable COVID-19 course, and the impact of infection on disease progression (Chi-PsoCov registry)

J Zitouni  1 , A-C Bursztejn  2 , A Belloni Fortina  3 , A Beauchet  4 , V Di Lernia  5 , A Lesiak  6 , J Thomas  7 , Z Topkarci  8 , N Murashkin  9 , P Brzezinski  10 , T Torres  11 , A Chiriac  12 , C Luca  13 , T McPherson  14 , M Akinde  15 , A Maruani  16 , R Epishev  9 , H Vidaurri de la Cruz  17 , P C Luna  18 , M Amy de la Bretêque  1 , A Lasek  19 , E Bourrat  20 , M Bachelerie  21 , S Mallet  22 , M Steff  23 , A Bellissen  24 , I Neri  25 , E Zafiriou  26 , J M P A van den Reek  27 , E Sonkoly  28   29   30 , S K Mahil  31 , C H Smith  31 , C Flohr  15 , H Bachelez  32   33 , E Mahé  1 ; Groupe de Recherche sur le Psoriasis (GrPso) of the Société Française de Dermatologie, the Groupe de recherche de la Société Française de Dermatologie Pédiatrique (GR SFDP), the PsoProtect study group, the British Society of Paediatric Dermatology (BPSD), and the Società Italiana di Dermatologia Pediatrica (S.I.Der.P.)
Affiliations

Children with psoriasis and COVID-19: factors associated with an unfavourable COVID-19 course, and the impact of infection on disease progression (Chi-PsoCov registry)

J Zitouni et al. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2022 Nov.

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has raised questions regarding the management of chronic skin diseases, especially in patients on systemic treatments. Data concerning the use of biologics in adults with psoriasis are reassuring, but data specific to children are missing. Moreover, COVID-19 could impact the course of psoriasis in children.

Objectives: The aim of this study was therefore to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the psoriasis of children, and the severity of the infection in relation to systemic treatments.

Methods: We set up an international registry of paediatric psoriasis patients. Children were included if they were under 18 years of age, had a history of psoriasis, or developed it within 1 month of COVID-19 and had COVID-19 with or without symptoms.

Results: One hundred and twenty episodes of COVID-19 in 117 children (mean age: 12.4 years) were reported. The main clinical form of psoriasis was plaque type (69.4%). Most children were without systemic treatment (54.2%); 33 (28.3%) were on biologic therapies, and 24 (20%) on non-biologic systemic drugs. COVID-19 was confirmed in 106 children (88.3%) and 3 children had two COVID-19 infections each. COVID-19 was symptomatic for 75 children (62.5%) with a mean duration of 6.5 days, significantly longer for children on non-biologic systemic treatments (P = 0.02) and without systemic treatment (P = 0.006) when compared with children on biologics. The six children who required hospitalization were more frequently under non-biologic systemic treatment when compared with the other children (P = 0.01), and particularly under methotrexate (P = 0.03). After COVID-19, the psoriasis worsened in 17 cases (15.2%). Nine children (8%) developed a psoriasis in the month following COVID-19, mainly a guttate form (P = 0.01).

Discussion: Biologics appear to be safe with no increased risk of severe form of COVID-19 in children with psoriasis. COVID-19 was responsible for the development of psoriasis or the worsening of a known psoriasis for some children.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Minozzi S, Bonovas S, Lytras T et al. Risk of infections using anti‐TNF agents in rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis: a systematic review and meta‐analysis. Expert Opin Drug Saf 2016; 15(Supp 1): 11–34. - PubMed
    1. Williamson EJ, Walker AJ, Bhaskaran K et al. Factors associated with COVID‐19‐related death using OpenSAFELY. Nature 2020; 584: 430–436. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Tsankov BK, Allaire JM, Irvine MA et al. Severe COVID‐19 infection and pediatric comorbidities: a systematic review and meta‐analysis. Int J Infect Dis 2021; 103: 246–256. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Izadi Z, Brenner EJ, Mahil SK et al. Association between tumor necrosis factor inhibitors and the risk of hospitalization or death among patients with immune‐mediated inflammatory disease and COVID‐19. JAMA Netw Open 2021; 4: e2129639. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mahil SK, Dand N, Mason KJ et al. Factors associated with adverse COVID‐19 outcomes in patients with psoriasis‐insights from a global registry‐based study. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2021; 147: 60–71. - PMC - PubMed