Exposure to systemic therapies for psoriasis including non-biologic and biologic drugs did not raise the risk of in‐hospital mortality due to SARS-CoV-2.

A retrospective nationwide cohort study was carried out for investigating hospitalization risk or in‐hospital mortality due to COVID‐19 by therapy exposure in individuals suffering from psoriasis.

In this study, all people registered in French national health insurance database (2008-2019) were eligible. Participants were classified as per their baseline therapy: biologics, non-biologics, topicals or no therapy. The major outcome was hospitalization for SARS-CoV-2 while in‐hospital mortality due to SARS-CoV-2 was the secondary outcome. 

The study recruited 1,326,312 adults having psoriasis (mean age 59 years; men 48%). During the first study period (15 February to 30 June 2020), 3871 people were hospitalized for coronavirus infection and 759 people (20%) died. During the second period (October 2020 to 31 January 2021), 3603 people were hospitalized for coronavirus infection and 686 people (19%) died.

As per propensity score‐weighted Cox models, the hospital admission risk for SARS-CoV-2 was linked with exposure to non-biologic agents or topical agents during the 1st period, and with all the exposure types, during the 2nd period. None of the exposure was linked with in‐hospital death attributed to SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The systemic therapies for psoriasis were not linked with an escalated risk of in‐hospital death due to SARS-CoV-2. The findings offer evidence favoring a continuity of psoriasis care and maintaining the usage of systemic therapies for psoriasis during the COVID-19 pandemic.