A multicenter, non-interventional study to evaluate patient-reported experiences of living with psoriasis

Abstract

Background: Moderate to severe plaque psoriasis (with or without psoriatic arthritis) places significant burden on patients' lives.

Objective: Explore and document patients' experiences of living with psoriasis, including symptoms, treatments, impact on daily lives and patient-reported functioning.

Methods: In a US-based, non-interventional study, narrative interviews were conducted at baseline and again within 16 weeks. In interviews, patients with moderate to severe psoriasis indicated symptoms, ranked symptoms according to level of bother and indicated areas of their lives affected by psoriasis. Transcripts of interviews were coded for themes. Measurements of psoriasis severity including BSA, PGA and PASI were recorded.

Results: Symptoms reported most frequently included flaking/scaling (non-scalp areas), itching/scratching and rash, while the most bothersome symptoms were itching/scratching, flaking/scaling (non-scalp areas) and skin pain. Frequently reported impact areas were social and emotional.

Conclusion: Broad-reaching interviews with patients with psoriasis show that these patients suffer in many aspects of their lives and in ways not indicated by typical psoriasis severity measures. Patients with psoriatic arthritis reported symptoms and disease-related complications at higher rates than those without arthritis. Physicians' explorations of the effect of psoriasis on patients' life events could aid in managing these patients.

Keywords: Narration; psoriasis; psoriatic arthritis; quality of life; video-audio media; videotape recording.

Figures

Figure 1.

Patient disposition. At baseline, 101 patients were enrolled in the study, 90 of whom completed the required two visits to the study site. Per protocol, patients were assessed at baseline and were to return to study sites between weeks 0 and 16 for an interval visit at the first clinically significant change in disease status (e.g. disease improvement or flare) or treatment. If no interval visit was made, a week-16 final assessment was required. Because only 10 patients had an interval visit, the majority of whom represented one clinical site and had no subsequent follow-up visit, these data were combined and analyzed with 16-week follow-up data.

Figure 2.

Symptoms bother rankings. “Other” includes all symptoms defined as “Other” in Tables 2 and 3 as well as any additional symptoms ranked as first, second or third most bothersome by

Figure 3.

Frequency of reporting by impact areas for psoriasis-only and psoriasis + psoriatic arthritis patients. Impact areas are described in Table 4. A patient was counted in an impact area if the patient made at least one statement that was coded in that category. p Values are provided for any statistically significant differences between psoriasis and psoriasis + psoriatic arthritis patients.