PsA: Rates of hospitalized serious infections lower with ustekinumab vs. other biologics

Key clinical point: In patients with psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis (PsA), the risk for hospitalized serious infection was lower among those who initiated ustekinumab than other biologics and apremilast.

Major finding: Compared with ustekinumab, the risk for hospitalized serious infection was higher for adalimumab (combined weighted hazard ratio [HR], 1.66; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.34-2.06), apremilast (HR, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.02-1.96), certolizumab (HR, 1.09; 95% CI, 0.68-1.75), etanercept (HR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.01-1.90), golimumab (HR, 1.74; 95% CI, 1.00-3.03), infliximab (HR, 2.92; 95% CI, 1.80-4.72), ixekizumab (HR, 2.98; 95% CI, 1.20-7.41), and secukinumab (HR, 1.84; 95% CI, 1.24-2.72).

Study details: Findings are from a population-based cohort study of 123,383 patients with psoriasis/PsA who initiated 1 among ustekinumab, adalimumab, apremilast, certolizumab, etanercept, golimumab, ixekizumab, or secukinumab between 2009 and 2018.

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Disclosures: This study was sponsored by the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. SC Kim, RJ Desai, and JF Merola reported receiving research grants from and/or working as consultants/investigators for various sources. The remaining authors declared no conflicts of interest.

Source: Jin Y et al. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2021 May 10. doi: 10.1002/acr.24630.