Level of QOL Impact of Psoriasis Does Not Appear to Be Influenced by Affected Body Region

Results from a systematic review have revealed that while psoriasis affects quality of life, the impact is not influenced by where the psoriasis is localized throughout the body.

Prior to the analysis, the researchers hypothesized that having localized psoriasis on more visible and/or more sensitive areas, including the face and genitals, would yield a more significant impact on quality of life.

“To the best of our knowledge, this systematic review is the first to use worldwide data in an attempt to deduce whether specific psoriatic areas of the body affect patients’ quality of life to differing extents,” commented the researchers.“The results of this review pointto the fact that all psoriatic involvement arguably decrease a patient’s quality of life, with neither one region doing so to a significantly greater extent than another.”

According to the group, their findings help underscore the importance of additional care for patients with psoriasis, with considerations of quality of life and proactive management of the impact, including with referral to psychotherapy or patient support groups.

The review included 50 articles, data from which suggested that localization of psoriasis to the deck was associated with decreased quality of life—indicated by a higher Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) score—compared with localized psoriasis on the palms. However, when using the one-way ANOVA test to determine if the difference was significant, results showed that DLQI scores were not significantly different based on which regions of the body were impacted by psoriasis.

The researchers noted that the studies in their review included data on quality of life associated with specific body regions being affected by psoriasis, rather than associated with body regions in isolation, which limited their ability to determine quality of life impact resulting from the specific body region alone. They also flagged that the quality of life scales included in the studies varied, creating difficulties in comparing results and pooling the results.

“Future studies are encouraged to be performed with a greater sample size, with each patient experiencing only one localization of psoriasis (for instance, on the scalp alone) in order to truly delineate whether there is a relationship between the body region affected by psoriasis and the quality of life,” recommended the group. “Additionally, future studies should use more common quality of life scales, such as DLQI, in order to allow for better comparison among studies. Lastly, further research can also explore to what extent treatment improves the quality of life in specific body regions and whether certain body regions’ associated quality of life improves significantly more compared to other regions affected by psoriasis.”

Reference

Nabieva K, Vender R. Quality of life and body region affected by psoriasis: A systemic review. Actas Dermosifiliogr. Published online August 27, 2022. doi:10.1016/j.ad.2022.07.021