This is a summary of the original article "Apremilast improves skin outcomes in pediatric plaque psoriasis of shorter disease duration: 52-week results from the SPROUT phase 3 trial". Enrolled patients were aged 6-17 years with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis (PsO) inadequately controlled by, or inappropriate for, topical therapy (NCT03701763). Patients were randomized to apremilast or placebo for 16 weeks, after which all patients transitioned to apremilast through 52 weeks. The efficacy of apremilast was assessed by disease duration at baseline (shorter, < 2 years; medium, ≥ 2 to < 5 years; longer, ≥ 5 years). In this post hoc analysis, patients had generally similar baseline characteristics across disease durations. At week 16, patients receiving apremilast vs placebo experienced numerically greater improvements in most skin clearance outcomes across all disease durations, particularly in patients with disease duration < 2 years. Through week 52, patients experienced numerical improvements across all disease durations, with the most pronounced efficacy in patients with disease duration < 5 years. These findings suggest early intervention with a systemic therapy such as apremilast in pediatric patients with moderate to severe PsO may mitigate disease burden.
Langley et al. (Thu,) studied this question.