Efficacy of Low Dose Naltrexone in Psoriasis

To determine the efficacy of low dose naltrexone in the patients of psoriasis.

Non-randomised clinical trial.

Department of Dermatology, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi from January to July 2019.

All patients of mild, moderate, and severe psoriasis with age above 13 years without any comorbids were included in this study. Patients were started on tablet naltrexone 6mg daily after assessing PASI, BSA and DLQI scores and were called every month for follow-up. After three months of treatment, these scores were assessed again. SPSS 23 was used to analyse the data.

Out of 71 patients, 37 (52%) were males and 34 (48%) were females with age ranging from 13 to 60 years with mean age of 37.85 ±12.211 years. The mean duration of disease was 5.27 ±3.084 years. Before treatment 1 (1.4%), 20 (28.2%), 24 (33.8%), 26 (36.6%) patients had mild, moderate, severe and very severe psoriasis according to PASI score. After treatment, 14 (19.7 %), 23 (32.4%), 23 (32.4%), 11 (15.5%) patients had mild, moderate, severe and very severe psoriasis. The mean PASI, BSA and DLQI were 18.47 ±8.157, 11.97 ±3.873 and 22.63 ±5.235 before treatment, respectively. The mean PASI, BSA and DLQI were 13.51 ±8.017, 8.07 ±3.650 and 16.31 ±7.056 after treatment, respectively.

Low dose naltrexone is an effective therapy for psoriasis as in other chronic dermatological diseases. It is a cost-effective therapy with few tolerable side-effects. It requires further studies for long-term response. Key Words: Naltrexone, Psoriasis, PASI, DLQI, BSA.