Burden of psoriasis

Abstract EN

Objective: To evaluate the personal characteristics, clinical features, comorbidities and treatment of patients with psoriasis.

Design: A Cross-Sectional Descriptive Study.

Setting: Dermatology Clinic, Salmaniya Medical Complex, Bahrain.

Method: Two hundred ten patients who attended the dermatology clinic from 1 January to 31 December 2015 were included in the study.

A computer-based questionnaire was answered by the patients.

The data of all patients were reviewed and confirmed with their medical records in the hospital.

The following data were documented: age, sex, marital status, smoking history, disease duration, site of involvement, associated comorbidities, body mass index (BMI), and the type of treatment received.

Result: Two hundred ten patients were included in the study.

One hundred twenty were males (57.1%) and 49 (23.3%) were smokers.

The mean age was 28.8 years.

One hundred thirty-nine (66.2%) lesions involved the scalp, 86 (41%) involved the joints and 76 (36.2%) involved the nails.

Sixty-one (29%) patients had dyslipidemia; 52 (24.8%) had diabetes; 39 (18.6%) had hypertension, and 16 (7.6%) had cardiovascular diseases One hundred fifty-one (71.9%) patients were overweight/obese.

One hundred sixty-one (76.7%) patients were on biological treatment.

Topical treatment was the most common among biological and non-biological patients (87% and 61.2%, respectively).

There was a statically significant relationship between the use of biological treatment and each of diabetes, nail involvement and scalp involvement (P-value ≤ 0.05).

Conclusion: This study highlights the burden of psoriasis in Bahrain, which may reflect the physical and economic impact of the disease.