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" A drug used to treat the clinical symptoms of psoriasis could prove effective in the treatment of fatigue and depression associated with the disease, new research suggests.  A team of scientists in the US examined the effects of etanercept, an effective treatment for the clinical symptoms of psoriasis, on fatigue and symptoms of depression in 600 patients.  Ranga Krishnan from the Duke University Medical Centre in Durham, North Carolina, and colleagues conducted the randomised trial of patients with moderate to severe psoriasis. Half of the patients received twice weekly doses of etanercept for 12 weeks and half received a placebo for 12 weeks.  The research team found that the drug reduced the severity of psoriasis to a much greater extent than the placebo. Almost half (47 per cent) of the patients taking etanercept achieved 75 per cent or greater improvement, compared with just five per cent on placebo.  Psoriasis has substantial psychological and emotional effects on sufferers and the researchers also explored the effects of etanercept on quality of life, fatigue, and depression.  In an article for medical journal The Lancet, the scientists report that those patients assigned etanercept reported a 50 per cent improvement in a commonly used rating scale for depression, when compared to those on placebo. Patients taking etanercept also had significant improvements on a scale that assesses fatigue.  Professor Krishnan concluded: &amp;quot;Etanercept treatment might relieve fatigue and symptoms of depression associated with this chronic disease.&amp;quot;  Psoriasis is an incurable, recurrent disease of the immune system that causes dry, painful skin lesions, which can crack, bleed and itch. The disease is often linked to psoriatic arthritis, a chronic, progressive and debilitating inflammatory disease that causes joint pain, stiffness and swelling, as well as bone damage. There are an estimated 7.5 million people in the US with psoriasis. \u00A9 Adfero Ltd "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/healthy-living/news/a13131/psoriasis-drug-hope-for-depression/>