In a high-impact study published in The Lancet Rheumatology, researchers aimed to assess whether males and females respond differently to advanced therapy among patients with psoriatic arthritis.
“We know that there are variations in how male and female patients with psoriatic arthritis present and respond to biological treatments,” says Dr. Lihi Eder, study lead and director of Women’s College Hospital’s (WCH) psoriatic arthritis program. “But there is very little information on the response to biologic treatment from randomized control trials because these trials typically don’t report their results by sex, even though it’s important to know.”
Some studies, especially those looking at TNF inhibitors, indicate that females aren’t responding as well to treatments and tend to stop taking their medication sooner than males.
“In our study, we wondered if the trends seen in observational studies are also found in controlled clinical trials, which tend to be less subjected to biases,” says Dr. Eder. “We also looked into whether the differing response between males and females vary depending on the type of biological treatments used. If there is a difference in response, it means we could use the patient’s sex to inform selection of biological therapies.”
In their examination of older biological therapies, they discovered a lower likelihood of response among female patients compared to male patients.
“Previous reports have already hinted at this, so the randomized control data only reinforced these findings,” explains Dr. Eder. “The surprising discovery came with a new type of treatment called JAK-TYK2 inhibitors. What’s remarkable is that there was no discernible difference in how male and female patients responded to the treatment, which suggests there might be a biological, sex-related factor influencing response.”
While it’s too early to suggest using the patient’s sex to decide on treatment, this finding urges further investigation.
“It’s interesting that females seem to respond better to this new class of medication compared to others where they typically fare worse,” says Dr. Eder.
Exploring whether this difference is linked to body weight, immune-related factors, pain or other variables could provide valuable insight into this condition. It also emphasizes how crucial it is to consider the patient’s sex when considering treatment options.
“In the future, this understanding could help guide treatment options,” says Dr. Eder. “It underscores the significance of reporting study results separately for males and females, as doing so can uncover phenomena that would otherwise go unnoticed if both sexes were combined in the analysis.”
Pharmaceutical companies are increasingly disclosing data broken down by sex due to growing demand. There’s also a notable trend towards incorporating sex into study design like randomizing by sex to ensure equal representation of males and females.
To read the full study, click here.