Efficacy and Safety of Topical Calcipotriol Plus Betamethasone Dipropionate Versus Topical Betamethasone Dipropionate Alone in Mild to Moderate Psoriasis

Abstract

Psoriasis is one of the prototypic papulosquamous skin diseases characterized by erythematous papules or plaques. This disease is chronic in nature with a tendency to relapse. Betamethasone dipropionate binds to specific intracellular glucocorticoid receptors and subsequently binds to DNA to modify gene expression. The study duration was 6 weeks. A total of 60 study participants of both sexes diagnosed with mild to moderate psoriasis were included in the study. They were randomized into two groups. Group A – topical calcipotriol plus betamethasone treatment group consisting of 30 patients and Group B – topical betamethasone alone also consisting of 30 patients and a total of 28 patients in topical calcipotriol plus betamethasone treatment group and 28 patients in topical betamethasone group completed the study. A total of 98 patients were screened for this study, out of which 38 patients were excluded where 11 patients refused to participate and 27 patients didn’t meet the inclusion criteria of our study. These results shows that there is statistically significant percentage reduction in PASI score after 2 weeks (p=0.01) and 4weeks (p<0.001) of treatment in both groups. As a conclusion, the combination therapy of topical calcipotriol plus betamethasone provided a promising strategy for the treatment of mild to moderate psoriasis.