Beschreibung:
<jats:title>Summary</jats:title><jats:sec><jats:title>Background and objectives</jats:title><jats:p>Psoriasis is a common skin disorder with a high physical and psychological burden for patients. Up to 30% of the patients are candidates for a systemic treatment. The aim of this study was to describe the characteristics and the real‐world systemic treatment of psoriasis patients.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Patients and methods</jats:title><jats:p>This study was based on German medical claims data. A cross‐sectional analysis observed all psoriasis patients in 2020. A longitudinal analysis was conducted, addressing psoriasis patients who newly started a systemic treatment.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>In total, 116,507 prevalent psoriasis patients and 13,449 newly treated patients were followed. Of all prevalent patients, 15.2% received systemic treatment in 2020 (8.7% systemic corticosteroids). Of the newly treated patients, 95.2% started with conventional treatment (79.2% systemic corticosteroids), 4.0% with biologics and 0.9% with apremilast. The rate of treatment discontinuation/switch after one year was highest for corticosteroids (91.3%) and lowest for biologics (23.1%).</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title><jats:p>Around 15% of psoriasis patients in Germany received a systemic treatment, with > 50% of these prescribed systemic corticosteroids. Therefore, we conclude that systemic treatment is not in line with guideline recommendations in a substantial number of observed patients. The lowest discontinuation/switch rates for biologics support their wider use.</jats:p></jats:sec>