Results of the retrospective observational CRYSTAL study in Russia: disease severity, treatment patterns and quality of life in patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis routinely managed with systemic treatment

Background: Psoriasis is a common chronic skin disease with frequent pathologic changes of the musculoskeletal system, which has a significant impact on health and a significant negative socioeconomic impact. Data on disease control and treatment strategies in routine clinical practice in Russia are limited. Aims: To describe the real-world disease severity in patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis receiving continuous systemic treatment for ≥24 weeks, response rates at enrollment, and dermatology-specific quality of life (QoL). Materials and methods: CRYSTAL was a cross-sectional, retrospective study in adult (18–75 years) patients (n = 100) with moderate-to-severe psoriasis receiving continuous systemic treatment for ≥24 weeks. Results: Current treatment was monotherapy for most patients (99.0 %) with either genetically engineered biological agents (96.0 %) or other systemic agents (3.0 %); one patient received combination therapy. Mean absolute PASI scores were 3.4±4.0, and 6.7±9.6 in the biological and other systemic agents groups, respectively. Absolute PASI scores 1, 3, and 5 were observed for 55.2 %, 39.6 %, and 28.1 % of patients receiving biological agents and 66.7 %, 66.7 %, and 33.3 % of patients taking other systemic agents. Mean DLQI total score was 2.6±4.2. Conclusions: A large proportion of patients showed low absolute PASI scores after at least 24 weeks of continuous treatment and an overall good satisfaction with their evolution. However, only 21.0 % of patients reached clear skin status, indicating that improvement in treatment strategies is still needed in Russia to optimize the outcomes of patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis.