The effects of acitretin on patients with psoriasis vulgaris

Objective: To study acitretin combined with narrow-band ultraviolet on patients with psoriasis vulgaris and to analyze the recurrence risk factors. Method: The patients in the control group (n = 75) were given narrow-band ultraviolet therapy, and those in the observation group (n = 75) received acitretin capsules in addition to the narrow-band ultraviolet therapy. The basically recovered patients and the significantly improved patients were categorized into the good curative effect group. The improved patients and ineffectual treatment patients were categorized into the poor curative effect group. Any recurrence within 1 year after the treatment was documented. The patients were divided into the recurrence group and the non-recurrence group based on their recurrence. The clinical data were collected for a single-factor analysis. The binary logistic regression method was adopted to analyze the independent risk factors for recurrence. Results: After the treatment, the expressions of IL-17 in the observation group were significantly lower than they were in the control group (P<0.05). The clinical curative effect in the control group was significantly poorer than it was in the observation group (P<0.05). The expressions of IL-17 in the good curative effect group were significantly lower than they were in the poor curative effect group (P<0.05). The multi-factor logstic regression analysis showed that alcoholism, family history, infection, and irregular medication use were independent risk factors for recurrence. Conclusions: Compared with narrow-band ultraviolet alone, acitretin combined with narrow-band ultraviolet can effectively reduce the expression of IL-17 in the serum and can improve the patients' conditions, but alcoholism, family history, infections, and the irregular use of acitretin are the independent risk factors for recurrence.