Sustained improvement in joint pain and nail symptoms with etanercept therapy in patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis

Background To determine the prevalence of joint and nail symptoms, impact of these symptoms on health-related quality of life (HR-QoL), and the effects of etanercept on them in patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. Methods In CRYSTEL, patients with psoriasis received etanercept continuously (n = 357) or as paused therapy (n = 363) for 54 weeks. In post hoc analyses, baseline characteristics and after-treatment changes were evaluated in patients with baseline joint pain or nail psoriasis, pooling across treatment groups. Assessments of symptom severity and HR-QoL included the Subject Global Assessment question on joint pain, NAPSI, DLQI and EQ-5D. Results Of 711 patients, 64% reported joint pain and 79% nail psoriasis at baseline. Patients with baseline joint pain or nail psoriasis had significantly worse HR-QoL than unaffected patients. Mean baseline differences between patients with and without joint pain in DLQI (3.3), EQ-5D utility (0.2), and EQ-5D VAS (7.3) were clinically meaningful. In patients with nail psoriasis, a clinically meaningful difference in EQ-5D VAS (5.0) was seen. Etanercept significantly improved symptom severity and HR-QoL. Patients with joint pain had improvements of 47%, 61%, 29%, and 23% in mean joint pain score, DLQI, EQ-5D utility, and EQ-5D VAS, respectively, at Week 54. Patients with nail psoriasis had improvements of 51%, 63%, and 24% in NAPSI, DLQI, and EQ-5D VAS. Conclusion In this study of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis, joint and nail symptoms were prevalent and patients with these symptoms had significantly greater HR-QoL impairment at baseline than unaffected patients. Etanercept provided significant improvement in symptom severity and HR-QoL.