By Jenny Powers
BERLIN -- October 13, 2009 -- Quality of life is significantly improved in patients who are treated with a benzoyl peroxide 5% plus clindamycin 1% (BPO/C) gel, compared with those receiving adapalene 0.1% (AP) gel for mild to moderate acne, researchers reported here at the 18th Congress of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV).
In addition, BPO/C treatment resulted in a greater reduction in the number of both inflammatory and total lesions, beginning at 2 weeks of treatment.
Aurora Guerra-Tapia, MD, Hospital Universitario, Madrid, Spain, reported the results of a comparative, multicentre, investigator-blinded, randomised, parallel-group study here on October 9.
Researchers compared the improvement in quality-of-life scores of patients who received BPO/C and those who received AP gel for treatment of mild to moderate facial acne using the Skindex-29, which evaluates 3 domains: emotional, functional, and symptomatic.
Secondary endpoints included lesion reduction, tolerability, and safety.
The study included 168 patients who were randomised to receive either BPO/C gel or AP gel.
Beginning in the second week of the study, the change from baseline in the mean global Skindex-29 score was -4.9 in the BPO/C arm, compared with -0.9 for the AP group (P = .001). At week 12, the change in Skindex-29 score was -7.25 in the BPO/C arm as compared with -2.4 for the AP group (P = .001).
Total lesion number was more reduced in every time point favouring BPO/C treatment over AP (P <= .01).
The proportion of patients with an overall tolerance score of "excellent" was higher in the BPO/C group. Overall tolerance was significantly better at week 12 in the BPO/C group (P <= .01). However, the majority of adverse events were reported by patients in the AP group.
The authors concluded that a significantly better quality-of-life trend began at week 2 and continued throughout the study that was documented in subjects treated with topical BPO/C gel. This improvement in quality of life was likely the result of the superior efficacy and tolerability profiles seen with BPO/C treatment and also due to the more rapid onset of activity of BPO/C.
Funding for this study was provided by Stiefel Madrid, a GSK company.
[Presentation title: Quality of Life Is Significantly Improved Using a Benzoyl Peroxide 5%/Clindamycin 1% Combination Gel Versus Adapalene 0.1% in the treatment of Mild-to-Moderate Acne. Abstract 35]
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