Adalimumab Effect on Pain in Hidradenitis Suppurativa Patients: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

INTRODUCTION: Pain is experienced by most patients with hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) and has a severe impact on their quality of life. Its management still presents a challenge. Adalimumab, a TNF-a antagonist, has shown promising results in HS-related pain reduction. OBJECTIVES: To aggregate and synthesize all existing evidence regarding the effect of adalimumab on HS-associated pain. METHODS: We identified original controlled and uncontrolled studies with participants receiving adalimumab, which included change in pain score post-treatment compared to baseline as an end-point. We searched MEDLINE, ScienceDirect, the Cochrane Library, ClinicalTrials.gov and International Clinical Trials Registry Platform. The primary endpoint of our study was the mean change (continuous variable) of pain scores at week 12 compared to baseline. RESULTS: We performed a meta-analysis of 4 randomized controlled trials (282 patients in the intervention group and 266 patients in the control group). Adalimumab brought about a 0.418 reduction in mean pain score at its worst with 95%CI [−0.588, −0.248] and P = 0.000 at 12 weeks after treatment commencement. Four more studies were included in a qualitative synthesis, 2 of which reported statistically significant reduction in pain scores at week 12. CONCLUSIONS: Adalimumab could be prescribed more readily in cases of HS associated with significant pain.