Interviewing patients who live with psoriasis can reveal important information not included in psoriasis severity measures, according to Dr. David Pariser of Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, and his associates.
More than 90% of 101 patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, with and without psoriatic arthritis, reported emotional and social impacts to their lives. Social impacts included avoiding/changing activities, relationships, or trying new things. Emotional impacts included a sense of anger, frustration, embarrassment, and self-consciousness; a lowered sense of self-esteem was common. Patients reported impacts in family, professional, social, and educational areas.
Dr. David Pariser
Patients with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis tended to report both symptoms and well-being complications more often, with 77% reporting physical impacts and 34% reporting educational impacts, compared with 38% and 17%, respectively, for those with psoriasis only.
The study data “provide practitioners with deep insight into how patients with moderate to severe psoriasis are suffering, regardless of whether the concerns are elucidated during patient visits. The burdens in patients’ lives support the use of effective treatment; indeed, patients expressed how they value physicians who are knowledgeable about psoriasis and who will try various therapies,” the investigators concluded.
Find the full study in the Journal of Dermatological Treatment (doi: 10.3109/09546634.2015.1044492).