Topical treatment for scalp psoriasis: Comparison of patient preference, quality of life and efficacy for non-alcoholic mometasone emulsion versus calcipotriol/betamethasone gel in daily clinical practice

Objective: To evaluate patients' assessment of therapy, efficacy, quality of life and treatment adherence in patients with scalp psoriasis treated with non-alcoholic mometasone emulsion or calcipotriol/betamethasone gel. Methods: Prospective, open-label, multicentre, non-interventional study. Patients with non-severe scalp psoriasis were treated with mometasone emulsion or calcipotriol/betamethasone gel. Evaluations included patient's global assessment of treatment, physician's global assessment of disease severity, quality of life (Dermatology Life Quality Index), physician's subjective evaluation of therapy, treatment adherence and adverse events. Results: Ninety-five patients treated with mometasone emulsion and 88 treated with calcipotriol/betamethasone gel were included in the intention-to-treat analysis. Patients' global assessment of treatment favoured mometasone emulsion over calcipotriol/betamethasone gel (p = 0.008), with treatment rated as good/very good by 91% versus 82.5%. Patients were less likely to report irritation of fingers' skin with mometasone than with calcipotriol/betamethasone (p = 0.0015). Severity of scalp psoriasis and quality of life improved in both groups. Adherence to treatment was similar in both groups. Physicians' perception of efficacy, tolerability and compliance was better for mometasone emulsion. Conclusion: Non-alcoholic mometasone emulsion achieved greater acceptability to patients and physicians than calcipotriol/betamethasone gel for the treatment of scalp psoriasis. Both topical treatments were similarly effective in terms of disease severity and quality of life.