A recent study found that age, BMI, and smoking status may be associated with the effectiveness of biologic treatments in patients with psoriasis.

In the meta-analysis, published in JAMA Dermatology, investigators assessed the clinical characteristics associated with the efficacy of biologics among 21,438 patients with psoriasis. They analyzed data from 40 studies to determine the factors affecting a 90% reduction in Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI 90) at 6 months.

The investigators identified that older age (odds ratio [OR] = 0.99, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.98–1.00), previous biologic exposure (OR = 0.44, 95% CI = 0.29–0.67), higher BMI (OR = 0.96, 95% CI = 0.94–0.99), previous smoking status (OR = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.67–0.98), and current smoking status (OR = 0.78, 95% CI = 0.66–0.91) were negatively associated with achieving PASI 90 in observational studies. In contrast, randomized clinical trials indicated that only a BMI of 30 or higher was negatively associated with achieving PASI 90 (OR = 0.57, 95% CI = 0.48–0.66).

The investigators concluded that further studies may be needed to determine if these effects vary across different biologic therapies.

Full disclosures can be found in the original study.