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Notizen: Summary Background Patients with psoriasis may experience significant psychological and social disabilities. Stress or distress are proposed aggravators of the disease process in psoriasis. Preliminary studies to date have suggested that adjunctive psychological therapies may be effective in the clinical management of psoriasis. Objectives To examine whether a 6-week multidisciplinary management approach, the Psoriasis Symptom Management Programme (PSMP) for patients with psoriasis improves clinical severity of psoriasis and its associated psychological distress and disability. Methods In a case–control study, patients with psoriasis attending an out-patient psoriasis speciality clinic chose to receive standard psoriasis treatment alone (n = 53) or to enter the PSMP as an adjunct to standard therapy (n = 40). They were assessed at baseline, at the end of the 6-week PSMP and after 6 months follow-up. Results As compared with standard treatment alone, analysis of covariance indicated that participation in the PSMP resulted in a greater reduction in clinical severity of psoriasis (P = 0·001), anxiety (P = 0·001), depression (P = 0·001), psoriasis-related stress (P = 0·001) and disability (P = 0·04) at 6 weeks and 6 months follow-up. Conclusions The management of the physical aspects of psoriasis and its psychological effects are significantly improved for patients who opt for a 6-week integrated multidisciplinary approach. Furthermore, the techniques learnt by participation in the PSMP facilitate continued control of psoriasis for at least 6 months.

Notizen: Background  Psoriasis has a detrimental effect on patients' quality of life. However, there is a relative dearth of information on which aspects of a patient's well-being are affected by successful treatment.Objectives  To investigate whether, and to what extent, improvement in the clinical severity of psoriasis induced by photochemotherapy with psoralen plus ultraviolet A (PUVA) translates into meaningful changes in beliefs about psoriasis, coping, stress, distress or disability.Methods  In a prospective study, 72 patients were assessed before PUVA therapy and again when they had achieved clearance of their psoriasis.Results  Patients demonstrated significant reductions in psoriasis-related disability, psoriasis-related stress or daily hassles and in the frequency of psoriasis-related symptoms. By comparison, there were no significant differences in levels of anxiety, depression or worrying. Similarly, patients' perceptions about cure, potential chronicity, causes, consequences and coping also remained unchanged.Conclusions  These results suggest that while clearance of psoriasis produces a significant reduction in factors specific to psoriasis (disability and stress), it does not impact upon psychological distress, on patients' beliefs about psoriasis or on coping. This observation highlights the complex features of patients' psychological experience of psoriasis and may provide further impetus for integration of psychological interventions into standard care protocols.

Notizen: Background  Psoriasis may, in some patients, be triggered and/or exacerbated by stress.Objectives  As activation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis is critical to a successful stress response we investigated this in patients with psoriasis.Methods  Forty patients with chronic plaque psoriasis and 40 age-matched normal controls experienced three randomly presented acute psychological stressors (cognitive, emotional and social). Serial serum cortisol, pulse rate and blood pressure assessments were undertaken at baseline and following each of the stressors. Salivary cortisol samples were collected at 09·00 h on the day of testing.Results  In control subjects there was a significant (r = 0·38; P 〈 0·05) correlation between pulse rate and serum cortisol level following the social performance stressor; this was not evident in the psoriasis group (r = 0·07; not significant). Patients who believed that their psoriasis was highly stress responsive had significantly lower salivary cortisol levels at baseline (P 〈 0·01) and lower serum cortisol levels following the social performance stressor (P = 0·016) than patients with nonstress-responsive disease who believed that stress had no impact. In contrast, there was no difference between the groups for change in pulse rate poststressor.Conclusions  This study shows that patients with psoriasis, and in particular those whose disease appears to be stress responsive, exhibit an altered HPA response to acute social stress. The implication is that such patients may perhaps be primed to flares of their psoriasis. Whether this is genetically predetermined and/or a consequence of the distress of living with psoriasis remains to be determined.

Notizen: Background  Psoriasis is characterized by symmetry of plaques and modulation of multiple genes within those plaques.Objectives  We compared gene expression profiles of plaques of psoriasis at different anatomical sites for both symmetrical and asymmetrical disease to ascertain whether the same genes were expressed.Methods  Gene expression profiles were analysed in biopsies from lesional and uninvolved skin from two groups of patients with either predominantly symmetrical or truncal plaques of psoriasis vulgaris, and from normal skin of healthy volunteers. Genomic analyses were performed using cDNA array and kinetically monitored reverse transcriptase-initiated polymerase chain reaction (kRT-PCR) approaches. A cluster of genes upregulated in involved psoriasis skin as compared with normal skin was identified using each of these two technologies.Results  Clustering of patients based on their gene expression profile did not reveal any correlation with family history of psoriasis, age at onset or association of psoriasis with arthritis. There was no difference in gene expression profile between the type (symmetrical vs. truncal) or location (left vs. right side of body) of psoriatic plaques. Gene expression profiles of involved psoriatic skin analysed by kRT-PCR analysis did correlate with both global (Psoriasis Area and Severity Index) and local (erythema, desquamation and plaque elevation) clinical severity.Conclusions  These results indicate that it may be feasible to analyse the molecular effects of pharmacological agents on psoriatic skin in ‘minizone’ protocols, that the obtained data can be correlated with clinical severity and that plaques of psoriasis in the same individual express the same genes.

Notizen: Background  Researchers have indicated that 30–40% of patients with psoriasis suffer significant psychological distress. For the appropriate clinical management of the patient with psoriasis it is important that dermatologists are able to recognize this distress.Objectives  To examine the level of agreement between dermatologists and patients with psoriasis as to the presence of clinically significant psychological distress.Methods  Forty-three consultations between dermatologists and patients with psoriasis were assessed. Following the consultation two assessments were undertaken: the patients completed measures of anxiety and depression, and the consulting dermatologists recorded whether they believed the patient to be psychologically distressed and, if so, their subsequent action. At the end of the study, all dermatologists who participated completed the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy.Results  Self-report questionnaires indicated that 37% and 12% of patients were identified as probable clinical cases for anxiety and depression, respectively. In general, the level of agreement between patient rating and dermatologist rating as to the presence of anxiety or depression was low (kappa statistic 0·24 and 0·26, respectively). Dermatologist empathy level did not appear to influence identification of distress. In only 39% of cases were the psychological difficulties of significantly distressed patients raised by dermatologists during the consultation.Conclusions  Agreement between dermatologists and patients with psoriasis regarding the presence of clinically significant psychological distress was low. When dermatologists did identify patients as being anxious and/or depressed, in the majority of cases no further action was taken following the consultation. This study highlights a number of areas for improvement in the psychological management of patients with psoriasis.

Notizen: Summary  Background Patients with psoriasis have significant impairment in their quality of life (QoL). Several patient-completed instruments are available to measure outcome in dermatological conditions but these primarily focus on severity of disease rather than on QoL. Objectives To develop a new instrument specifically designed to measure QoL in psoriasis—the Psoriasis Index of Quality of Life (PSORIQoL). Methods The content of the instrument was derived from qualitative interviews with 62 psoriasis patients in the U.K., Italy and the Netherlands. Content analysis of the interview transcripts from the three countries identified potential items for the questionnaire. All further stages of the project were conducted in the U.K. only. Face and content validity were determined by means of a focus group held with seven psoriasis patients and face-to-face interviews with a further 21 patients. A new draft version of the PSORIQoL, together with the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) and the General Well-Being Index (GWBI), were completed by a new sample of psoriasis patients contacted by mail, in order to determine construct validity. A subsample of the respondents completed a similar package 2 weeks later, to assess reproducibility (reliability). Results The first version of the PSORIQoL consisted of 61 items covering the needs identified in the interviews as having been affected by psoriasis or its treatment. These included fear of negative reactions from others, self-consciousness and poor self-confidence, problems with socialization, physical contact and intimacy, limitations on personal freedom and impaired relaxation, sleep and emotional stability. Following the focus group and field-test interviews, a new draft measure consisting of 45 items was completed by 148 patients, 88 of whom completed and returned a similar package 2 weeks later. Application of Rasch analysis identified a final 25-item version of the PSORIQoL. This version had a test–retest reliability coefficient of 0·89, indicating good reproducibility. The levels of association with the DLQI and PGWB indicated that the PSORIQoL measures a related but distinct construct. Conclusions The PSORIQoL appears to be a practical, reliable and valid instrument for measuring the impact of psoriasis on QoL. It remains necessary to establish the instrument's responsiveness to changes in QoL associated with treatment.