Nupur U. Patel

Increasing Adherence with Topical Agents for Atopic Dermatitis

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is an intensely pruritic dermatosis that develops most commonly during early infancy and childhood and may follow a chronic, relapsing course into adulthood. As a chronic disease, AD requires treatment over an extended period of time, and is therefore difficult to treat. The main difficulty stems from poor adherence to treatment by patients for reasons such as frustration with medication efficacy, inconvenience, and fear of side effects. Methods that improve adherence include creating therapeutic plans with patient preferences in mind, early follow-up visit, increasing patient education through workshops, and discussing with patients and their caretakers their fears about treatment methods. AD can be exceedingly detrimental to a patient’s quality of life. Simple measures to improve adherence may improve patients’ treatment outcomes and quality of life.

An Anchoring-Based Intervention to Increase Patient Willingness to Use Injectable Medication in Psoriasis

This study examines the association of anchoring with patient willingness to use a monthly injectible medication for psoriasis.

A Review of the Use of Secukinumab for Psoriatic Arthritis

Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic, seronegative spondyloarthropathy associated with psoriasis (PsO). Treatment options range from non-pharmacologic measures to NSAIDS, DMARDs, and biologics, depending on patient presentation. Secukinumab (Cosentyx©) is a new biologic treatment option that was approved for use in treating adult patients with PsA in October 2016. Our paper explores the clinical trial evidence available for secukinumab to examine its safety and efficacy as a therapeutic agent for the treatment of PsA. While indirect comparisons of indicate that secukinumab is as effective as other treatment options, further studies directly comparing available treatments will be necessary to establish its place in treatment guidelines. As these and other trials are conducted, the evidence produced will further elucidate the clinical potential of secukinumab as a treatment option for patients with rheumatologic disease.

Chemical pharmacotherapy options for managing adult acne.

ABSTRACT Introduction: The incidence of adult acne is increasing worldwide. Despite clinical overlap with conventional acne, it has distinct features. Areas covered: A literature search of English-language review articles, randomized control studies and retrospective studies conducted over the past 30 years was performed using PubMed and Google Scholar. Search terms included acne, adult, topical medication, oral medication and skin of color. We highlight important clinical features and treatment modalities pertinent to the evaluation and management of adult acne. Given the relative dearth of literature detailing treatment options specific to adult acne, we offer expert opinion regarding management of the condition especially in special populations such as skin of color and pregnancy. Expert Opinion: It is unclear whether adult acne represents a distinct entity or a continuum of adolescent disease. Providers may opt to use topical medication as first-line, but should have a low threshold for switching to systemic therapy given the magnitude of psychosocial and emotional burden associated with the condition.

Psoriasis, Depression, and Inflammatory Overlap: A Review

Psoriasis has an enormous impact on patients’ lives and is frequently associated with depression. Depression in psoriasis may be attributed, at least in part, to elevated proinflammatory cytokines rather than the psychosocial impact of psoriasis itself. Biologics that target inflammatory cytokines treat the clinical manifestations of psoriasis, but may also play a role in reducing associated depression. Multiple biologics have decreased symptoms of depression during clinical trials in psoriasis; however, these studies used a variety of depression screening tools, which limits comparison. Furthermore, it is difficult to distinguish whether improved depression is the result of the direct anti-inflammatory effect of the biologic, or the indirect effect of improved psoriasis leading to better psychological status. Future studies evaluating depression in patients with psoriasis could benefit from a standardized depression screening tool to mitigate discrepancies and facilitate comparison across treatment types. Here, we highlight the inflammatory overlap between psoriasis and depression by examining the pathophysiology of depression, and reviewing psoriasis clinical studies that assessed depression as an outcome measure.

Ethical considerations in adherence research

Poor adherence to treatment is a common cause of medical treatment failure. Studying adherence is complicated by the potential for the study environment to impact adherence behavior. Studies performed without informing patients about adherence monitoring must balance the risks of deception against the potential benefits of the knowledge to be gained. Ethically monitoring a patient’s adherence to a treatment plan without full disclosure of the monitoring plan requires protecting the patient’s rights and upholding the fiduciary obligations of the investigator. Adherence monitoring can utilize different levels of deception varying from stealth monitoring, debriefing after the study while informing the subject that some information had been withheld in regard to the use of adherence monitoring (withholding), informed consent that discloses some form of adherence monitoring is being used and will be disclosed at the end of the study (authorized deception), and full disclosure. Different approaches offer different benefits and potential pitfalls. The approach used must balance the risk of nondisclosure against the potential for confounding the adherence monitoring data and the potential benefits that adherence monitoring data will have for the research subjects and/or other populations. This commentary aims to define various methods of adherence monitoring and to provide a discussion of the ethical considerations that accompany the use of each method and adherence monitoring in general as it is used in clinical research.

Recent Advances in Small Molecule and Biological Therapeutic Approaches in the Treatment of Psoriasis

New treatments continue to be developed for psoriasis. In this review, we aim to summarize the results of the major published studies on biologic and small molecule drugs for the treatment of psoriasis. We emphasize the safety, efficacy, and tolerability of these treatment options. A review of the MEDLINE database was conducted for each class of medication. Randomized controlled trials were identified for each medication; data on efficacy, safety, and tolerability were reviewed. Biologic and small molecule treatment options are more effective than placebo, although there were few head‐to‐head trials to assess relative efficacy between biologics and small molecule treatments. These drugs offer favorable safety profiles with only rare serious adverse events reported. Biologic and small molecule drugs offer diverse therapeutic regimens, particularly in patients with recalcitrant disease.

Early Congenital Syphilis: Recognising Symptoms of an Increasingly Prevalent Disease:

Background: Congenital syphilis (CS) is an infectious disease resulting from transplacental transmission of Treponema pallidum spirochetes from an infected mother to fetus during pregnancy. While uncommon, CS has shown an increased incidence in Canada and the United States since 2001 and 2012, respectively. Case Report: We present the case of a 5-week-old female infant with blistering rash on the palms and soles. The infant displayed decreased movement of the left upper extremity, clinically consistent with Parrot pseudoparalysis. Cutaneous involvement was limited to few tan crusted papules on the palms and soles. Mother reported a “false-positive” result of rapid plasma reagin (RPR) testing at 31 weeks. Cerebrospinal fluid studies of the infant resulted with positive Venereal Disease Research Laboratory (VRDL) test and positive microhemagglutination assay (MHA-TP). Histopathology of a crusted papule revealed a lichenoid infiltrate composed of lymphocytes, histiocytes, and plasma cells. Immunohistochemical staining for T pallidum was negative. The patient completed treatment with a 10-day course of intravenous penicillin. Discussion: While CS is largely considered a historic entity, it has been increasing in incidence in the United States since 2012 and in Canada since the early 2000s. Diagnosis of CS can be difficult as infants may be asymptomatic or present with nonspecific signs. This case highlights the presentation of minimal cutaneous involvement as well as skeletal involvement after birth. RPR testing may result in false negatives or indeterminate results, further complicating diagnosis. Given these difficulties in screening and the increasing incidence of CS, clinicians may need to refamiliarise themselves with its clinical findings.

Insights into future therapeutics for atopic dermatitis

ABSTRACT Introduction: Atopic Dermatitis (AD) is a common chronic inflammatory skin disorder with a constellation of symptoms. Currently, there are numerous therapies in various phases of drug development that target the pathogenesis of AD. Areas covered: Our paper aims to examine small molecule therapies and other novel agents registered for clinical trial in the phase II and mainly phase III stages of development. A literature search using PubMed as well as Clinicaltrials.gov was conducted. Clinical trial evidence of these novel agents was compiled and assessed. Both topical and oral novel therapies with diverse range of mechanistic action are currently being studied, with varying success. These include phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitors, boron molecules, Janus kinase inhibitors, cannabinoid receptors agonists, kappa-opioid receptor agonists. A variety of compounds with yet undisclosed or unknown mechanisms of action are also being studied. Expert opinion: Further research through extensive clinical trials will allow for more information about these targeted therapies and their potential place in the treatment algorithm of AD. Due to the success of such therapies in treating a spectrum of chronic inflammatory diseases, we remain hopeful that the successful development of targeted therapy for AD lies ahead.

Adherence in Atopic Dermatitis

Atopic dermatitis is a chronic dermatologic condition requiring extended treatment times with topical application of medications. While atopic dermatitis treatments can be highly effective when used as directed, oftentimes patients do not respond as expected, raising concern for non-adherence versus non-response. This chapter aims to describe what is currently known about adherence in atopic dermatitis and to discuss strategies to improve adherence in order to improve treatment outcomes. Whether intentional or unintentional, non-adherence to treatment can limit patient outcomes of this disease for a variety of reasons. These include frustration with medication efficacy, inconvenience, and fear of side effects. Other factors include forgetfulness, financial burden of treatment, lack of trust in the physician, dislike of prescribed medication, or lack of understanding of disease or treatment. Several interventions have been studied with the aim of improving adherence in atopic dermatitis-such as educational workshops for patients and caregivers, earlier follow-up visits, and text messages reminders-however these are often limited by sample size and power. Further research is needed to study both specific patterns of nonadherence in atopic dermatitis, as well as methods to improve them.