SHBC1393

A.M.Y.YONG¹, L.JUAY¹, E.Y.Y.TAN², S.J.Q.WOO², C.L.X.TAN¹ 

National University Hospital¹, MOH Holdings Pte Ltd (MOHH)² 

Phototherapy can be used as monotherapy, but is more often part of a multimodal treatment regime, in the treatment of atopic dermatitis (AD) and psoriasis. There is little published on targeted phototherapy in Asian patients. We aim to determine the efficacy and adverse effects of phototherapy amongst our patients with psoriasis and AD, as well as any possible association of the patients’ improvement with a comorbidity, site of lesion or concurrent topical therapy.

All patients with AD (n=166) and psoriasis (n=128) who underwent targeted phototherapy at our centre were included and identified from the hospital phototherapy records, from 1st January 2008 to 31st December 2015. Demographics, co-morbidities, concurrent topical therapies, sites of lesions, improvement and side effects of phototherapy were collected. Univariate Chi-square test or Fisher’s Exact test for small samples was done to determine any possible association of the patients’ improvement with a co-morbidity, site of lesion or concurrent topical therapy. A multiple-variable regression analysis was conducted to determine the factors and adjusted odds of improvement.

22.3% of AD patients and 32.8% of psoriasis patients improved. Phototherapy was more well tolerated compared with our Caucasian counterparts – only 15.7% of AD and 16.4% of psoriasis patients experienced minor side effects. None of the patients analysed over the 8-year period developed skin cancer. There was no association between improvement and any co-morbidity.

Majority of our Asian patients tolerated phototherapy well, with minimal minor side effects. Concurrent topical therapy including topical steroids and emollients is advocated.