title: Reasons for Treatment Changes in Patients With Moderate to Severe Psoriasis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Psoriasis treatment involves multiple treatment arms. Treatment choice depends on many factors and may change, due to the chronicity of psoriasis.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of our study is to explore reasons for treatment changes in patients with moderate to severe psoriasis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ten charts of patients with moderate to severe psoriasis were reviewed. The medication changes and reasons for change were extracted. A "treatment change" was defined as switching between medication classes, adding or removing a medication class, or switching medications within the oral or biologic medication class.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seventy-seven treatment changes were identified. On average, 1 treatment change occurred per year of follow-up. The most common reason for treatment change was inadequate disease control.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Inadequate disease control with current therapy is the most common reason a physician changes treatment for moderate to severe psoriasis. More efficacious treatments or ways to improve efficacy may help improve the long-term outcomes of psoriasis.
authors.affiliation: Center for Dermatology Research, Department of Dermatology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA anderson.kathryn.lee@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Kathryn L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.affiliation: Center for Dermatology Research, Department of Dermatology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA Department of Pathology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA Department of Public Health Sciences, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Steven R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Feldman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010789:Phototherapy; D011565:Psoriasis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: dermatology; phototherapy; psoriasis