Comparing the odds of reported depression in psoriasis patients on systemic therapy: a cross-sectional analysis of postmarketing data

Abstract

Patients with psoriasis are more likely to experience depression and suicidality compared to non-psoriatic patients, though systemic therapies have been shown to improve depressive symptoms. It is unclear whether or not biologic or oral agents are more effective at improving such depressive symptoms in psoriasis patients, however. We aimed to determine an estimate of the odds of incident depression in psoriasis patients on different systemic therapies by performing a cross-sectional analysis of postmarketing data. The reporting odds ratio (ROR) for 15 different systemic agents was calculated using reports from the Food and Drug Administration Adverse Events Reporting System (FAERS). After excluding brodalumab and apremilast due to high risk of reporting bias, we found oral agents were associated with a significantly higher ROR of depression compared to biologics (OR = 2.42, 95% confidence interval: 1.93–3.04). These results suggest biologics may be more effective at reducing incident depression than oral agents. Future controlled trials are needed to confirm these findings.

Keywords

• suicide
• biopharmaceutical
• psychiatric disorder
• pharmacovigilance
• antidepressant