Dupilumab improves outcomes in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps irrespective of gender: results from the SINUS-52 trial.

Objectives: This analysis assessed disease characteristics and response to dupilumab treatment in male and female patients with severe chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) (SINUS-52 study; NCT02898454).

Methods: Patients received dupilumab 300 mg or placebo every 2 weeks for 52 weeks on background intranasal corticosteroids. Efficacy was assessed through Week 52 using nasal polyp score (NPS), nasal congestion/obstruction score, loss of smell score and University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test score. Disease-specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL) was assessed using the 22-item Sino-Nasal Outcome Test (SNOT-22).

Results: The analysis included 192 male and 111 female patients. Female patients had higher mean SNOT-22 total score (56.6 vs. 49.1,  < 0.01) and more coexisting asthma (78.4% vs. 46.4%,  < 0.0001) and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug-exacerbated respiratory disease (NSAID-ERD) (38.7% vs. 18.8%,  = 0.0001) than male patients, but other baseline characteristics were similar. Dupilumab significantly improved CRSwNP outcomes vs. placebo at Week 52, regardless of gender: least squares mean differences (95% confidence interval) for NPS were -2.33 (-2.80, -1.86) in male and -2.54 (-3.18, -1.90) in female patients (both  < 0.0001 vs. placebo), and for SNOT-22 were -19.2 (-24.1, -14.2) in male and -24.4 (-31.5, -17.3) in female patients (both  < 0.0001 vs. placebo). There were no significant efficacy-by-gender interactions.

Conclusion: Female patients had greater asthma, NSAID-ERD and HRQoL burden at baseline than male patients. Dupilumab treatment significantly improved objective and subjective outcomes compared with placebo, irrespective of gender.