The postpartum period is often a time when women with moderate to severe psoriasis experience a significant disease flare – and if they’re breastfeeding, treatment options are limited, according to Dr. Alan Menter.

This postpartum major flare of psoriasis is an underappreciated phenomenon that catches many dermatologists and most ob.gyns. off guard, he said.

"Fifty to 60% of psoriasis patients have genital involvement. A woman with genital psoriasis in the postpartum period or during delivery really needs help, and I think we in dermatology should be addressing these issues because most of the obstetricians are not sure how to treat these patients," said Dr. Menter, chief of the division of dermatology at Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, and chair of the American Academy of Dermatology psoriasis guidelines committee.

Psoriasis is equally common in men and women, and two-thirds of affected individuals present before age 40 – for women, the childbearing years. Thorny psoriasis management issues in pregnancy and postpartum are common.

Psoriasis slowly improves during pregnancy in roughly two-thirds of patients, as is true for other immune-mediated diseases. But for that other third, many of the mainstay therapies for tough psoriasis are off limits during pregnancy and/or post partum. UVB is a good, safe option, albeit inconvenient. Retinoids and cyclosporine are out because of teratogenicity.

Cyclosporine probably should be considered the go-to drug for significant disease during pregnancy. Its strengths are its fast onset of action and the safety reassurance provided by vast patient registries started back in the 1980s when the drug was first used in transplant recipients.

"We’re all comfortable using cyclosporine," Dr. Menter said. "Our AAD guidelines state it is appropriate for 1 year of continuous use. The European guidelines say, ‘2 years of continuous use.’ But I think most of us use it as an interventional therapy for 3-6 months. I actually think we should be using it a little more frequently as an interventional therapy."

Cyclosporine must be stopped in month 8 of pregnancy to allow the drug to clear from the patient’s system before delivery, since it is secreted in breast milk.

For the breastfeeding woman experiencing a major disease flare, the options are basically potent topical steroids, which physicians should feel comfortable in prescribing according to the standard dosing schedule used in nonpregnant patients, or – when topical therapy won’t get the job done – the biologic agents, listed by the Food and Drug Administration as category B.

The most forward-thinking approach to take with young women who require systemic therapy for psoriasis is to discuss pregnancy-related issues before pregnancy occurs. In particular, a prospective case-control study from the Organization of Teratology Information Specialists Autoimmune Diseases in Pregnancy Project concluded that women with psoriasis were significantly more likely to smoke, carry a diagnosis of depression, and be overweight or obese before pregnancy – factors that increase their risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes (Br. J. Dermatol. 2010;163:334-9).

Moreover, other studies have shown that psoriasis patients, men as well as women, have an increased prevalence of the metabolic syndrome, which increases their long-term risk of cardiovascular disease. Women with an adverse cardiovascular risk profile who are considering pregnancy and parenthood may be in a teachable moment where they are more amenable to lifestyle changes that reduce the risks both to their baby and themselves, Dr. Menter said at the Hawaii Dermatology Seminar sponsored by Global Academy for Medical Education/Skin Disease Education Foundation.

Of course, half of pregnancies in the United States are unplanned, so the potential for unintended first-trimester fetal exposure to a teratogenic drug is substantial. While methotrexate is rated by the FDA as category X in pregnancy, dermatologists can derive some comfort from a well-executed review of 101 methotrexate-exposed pregnancies in rheumatology patients (Clin. Exp. Rheumatol. 2009;27:678-84). The 23% miscarriage rate wasn’t significantly different from that seen in pregnant psoriasis patients not on systemic agents. The live birth rate was 66%, with a 5% rate of neonatal malformations, all minor.

"The outcomes were actually better than any of us would have anticipated," Dr. Menter commented.

Psoriasis appears to have an inherent adverse impact upon pregnancy, he continued, pointing to an Israeli study of 68 deliveries in 35 women with moderate to severe psoriasis and 237 deliveries in 236 controls without psoriasis matched for age, parity, and gestational age.

"I think this is something we have to very gently discuss with our female patients who are considering pregnancy. We should tell them to be cautious in pregnancy because of this link between psoriasis and a slightly increased risk of spontaneous abortions. And I also discuss it with our ob.gyn. colleagues, who really are not aware of this link," the dermatologist said.

Dr. Menter reported receiving research support and/or consultant or lecture fees from roughly 20 pharmaceutical companies. SDEF and this news organization are owned by the same parent company.

b.jancin@elsevier.com

*This story was updated March 1, 2013.

Watch for postpartum exacerbation of psoriasis