Psoriasis Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Psoriasis, including details on treatment, prevention, medication, causes.

The effect of treatment on quality of life in psoriasis patients.

Prins M, Krabbe PF, Swinkels QO, de Boo T, van de Kerkhof PC, van der Valk PG

Department of Dermatology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, The Netherlands. M.Prins@derma.umcn.nl

Psoriasis is a chronic skin disease with substantial impact on patients' social and relational ways of living and subsequently on their quality of life. The aim of this study was to evaluate the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of patients with moderate to severe psoriasis treated with short contact dithranol treatment, UVB phototherapy or inpatient dithranol treatment. HRQoL was evaluated in an open randomized multicentre study by appliance of the Dutch short form of the Sickness Impact Profile and the Psoriasis Disability Index; 250 patients were included. Successful short contact dithranol treatment and UVB phototherapy both led to a comparable improvement in HRQoL immediately after treatment until the end of the follow-up (maximum 1 year). Inpatients experienced a more impaired HRQoL and showed no significant improvement in HRQoL directly following treatment. At the end of the study HRQoL became comparable for all treatment groups.All three treatments led to substantial improvement in HRQoL; however, patients treated by short contact treatment or UVB showed a better HRQoL than inpatients.

Published 29 September 2005 in Acta Derm Venereol, 85(4): 304-10.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Psoriasis Research Today. All Rights Reserved.