INTRODUCTION
Plaque psoriasis is an immune-mediated inflammatory disease characterized by red, itchy, raised lesions and flaking that affects more than 100 million people worldwide.1-5 Psoriasis can affect any part of the body, yet a recent survey indicated that approximately 53.5% of patients experience psoriasis on the scalp.6 Symptoms of scalp psoriasis include small patches of itchy, dry skin that flakes off, or may be more severe, resulting in thick, lumpy, silver or white scales or inflamed, crusted patches across the entire scalp that may extend to the forehead, back of the neck, and ears.2,4,7,8 Regardless of symptom severity, patients often experience social, physical, or mental and emotional difficulties that may negatively affect their quality of life.2,6-9
Multiple treatment options for scalp psoriasis are available, yet the condition remains difficult to treat because of challenges stemming from disease severity, treatment response, and patients’ treatment preferences.4,7-9 Although primarily managed with topical therapies, the use of newly developed biologic and systemic agents may be a more convenient alternative for the treatment of psoriasis.4,6,8,9 The efficacy of oral agents, such as deucravacitinib, has not been characterized in comparison to traditional first-generation biologics in the treatment of scalp psoriasis. More specifically, deucravacitinib10 and adalimumab11 are both approved in the United States for the treatment of plaque psoriasis, yet no head-to-head comparisons between these 2 agents have been conducted. Unanchored matching-adjusted indirect comparisons (MAICs) have been shown to provide valid relative treatment effect estimates when direct treatment comparisons are lacking.12 In the absence of head-to-head clinical trials, the current study was designed to indirectly compare the effectiveness of deucravacitinib and adalimumab for the treatment of patients with scalp psoriasis.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
A targeted literature search was conducted on June 28, 2023, to identify clinical studies of adalimumab. Studies of interest were those with a patient population comparable to that of the