Centro Studi GISED

Many chronic dermatological diseases (e.g. psoriasis) involve the use of biological drugs that modulate the immune system activity, being able, in principle, to promote the onset of some infections, and being able in theory to worsen the conditions of patients with COVID-19.

The project collected and analyzed data from dermatological centers in northern Italy, in order to assess the impact of treatment with biological drugs on the severity of COVID-19 and related mortality. Between February and June 2020, the incidence of hospitalization and death from COVID-19 was measured in a large sample of patients with plaque psoriasis who were being treated with biological drugs, comparing them with the general population.

The data collected so far has shown that the use of biologics during the pandemic did not affect the development of serious complications of SARS-CoV-2 infection, making it unnecessary to discontinue treatments in patients with psoriasis.


Results

The results were published in the following papers:

Gisondi P, Piaserico S, Naldi L, et al. Incidence rates of hospitalization and death from COVID-19 in patients with psoriasis receiving biological treatment: A Northern Italy experience. J Allergy ClinImmunol. 2020 Nov 5:S0091-6749(20)31558-X.

Piaserico S, Gisondi P, Cazzaniga S, et al. Lack of Evidence for an Increased Risk of Severe COVID-19 in Psoriasis Patients on Biologics: A Cohort Study from Northeast Italy. Am J ClinDermatol. 2020 Oct;21(5):749-751.

Gisondi P, Facheris P, Dapavo P, et al. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients with chronic plaque psoriasis being treated with biological therapy: the Northern Italy experience. Br J Dermatol. 2020 ;183:373-374.

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