Similar levels of efficacy of two different maintenance doses of adalimumab on clinical severity and quality of life of patients with hidradenitis suppurativa

Adalimumab is the only biologic agent approved for the treatment of moderate-to-severe hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) patients (i.e., with Hurley II or III), which is recommended in two different maintenance doses (i.e., 40 mg weekly or 80 mg every two weeks). We conducted a prospective multicentric study to measure outcomes related to the severity of disease and quality of life (QoL) of patients affected by moderate-to-severe HS, treated with adalimumab at a maintenance dosing of 40 mg or 80 mg. Assessments were performed at baseline (T0) and after 32 weeks of treatment (T32). We enrolled 85 moderate-to-severe HS Italian patients, 43 men (50.6%) and 42 women, aged between 16 and 62 years (median 31 years, interquartile range 24.4-43.8). Statistically significant improvements were observed for clinical status (with a mean reduction of 7.1 points for the International Hidradenitis Suppurativa Severity Score System (IHS4)), pain levels (3.1 mean decrease in VAS), and QoL (3.4 mean improvement in DLQI score). Patients with no comorbidities, and those with higher levels of perceived pain showed significantly greater improvement in QoL than their counterpart from T0 to T32. As for the proportion of patients who at follow-up reached the minimal clinical important difference (MCID) in QoL, significantly higher proportions of success were observed for age (patients in the 29-39 category), pain (patients with higher reported pain), and Hurley stage III. While both treatment regimen groups (i.e., 40 vs. 80 mg) improved significantly, no statistical differences were observed when comparing the two treatment dosages.