Effects of etanercept therapy on fatigue and symptoms of depression in subjects treated for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis for up to 96 weeks

Conflicts of interest: see Acknowledgments. Trial registration: This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov with the identifier NCT00111449. Sir, Fatigue and depression have been associated with psoriasis.1, 2 Proinflammatory cytokines such as tumour necrosis factor (TNF), implicated in the pathogenesis of psoriasis, also have been linked to symptoms of fatigue3 and depression.4 Etanercept is a soluble TNF receptor‐Fc fusion protein that has U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for the treatment of moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Results have been reported previously of a 12‐week, randomized, double‐blind trial of etanercept or placebo in psoriasis.5 Herein, we report the longer‐term results from this study. After week 12, 591 subjects (95% of enrolled subjects) entered a second portion of the study in which all received open‐label etanercept 50 mg twice weekly. Of these, 233 subjects (77%) from the etanercept/etanercept group and 231 subjects (81%) from the placebo/etanercept group completed 84 weeks of open‐label etanercept.