Quality of life of psoriasis patients measured by the PSOdisk: a new visual method for assessing the impact of the disease.

BACKGROUND: Psoriasis is an inflammatory disease with a chronic course; often it is associated with various serious comorbidity and a compromised quality of life. Psoriasis patients experience a low self-esteem, feelings of shame and frustration, they report a seriously compromised social and sentimental sphere, difficulties at work and in daily activities, coming in most serious cases to suicidal ideation.

METHODS: Our job is to experiment the introduction of the innovative PSOdisk tool to quantify the impact of psoriasis on quality of life, comparing it with PASI Index. We presented the empirical analysis, gathered through a sample of 24 patients, followed for 6 months of therapy with biologics. Patients were encountered three times, at a distance of three months each, during which we calculated a PASI score and we administered the PSOdisk.

RESULTS: Through various statistical analyses we have identified a relationship between PSOdisk value and other parameters such as patient age and particular locations of psoriasis. Specifically we systematically observed that patients aged less than 50 years reported a more compromised quality of life (QoL) when compared to older patients with the same clinical severity. At the same time patients with hands or genitals involvement show higher values associated with the PSOdisk compared with patients without such anatomical deficiency.

CONCLUSIONS: PSOdisk instrument proved to be effective and optimal for widespread distribution in the outpatient activity. It also encourages dialogue between doctor and patient; it increases compliance of the latter with regard to the therapy and a desirable improvement in outcomes. A systematic assessment of the impact of psoriasis on patients' QoL is fundamental and must complement the objective assessment in clinical practice.