The relationship between symptoms and patient characteristics among psoriasis patients.

Background: Pruritus is a common symptom of many dermatological and systemic diseases. It is a common complaint among patients with psoriasis of the chronic plaque type. Patients with pruritus suffer from more severe psoriasis although some authors did not find a significant relationship between pruritus intensity and psoriasis severity.

Aims: In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between clinical features and symptoms among psoriasis patients. And also we aimed to evaluate whether the severity of disease, depression and quality of life scores could effect these symptoms or not.

Methods: Eighty seven patients with psoriasis were enrolled in this study. Epidemiological data of patients were noted. Clinical symptoms, such as pruritus, pain, burning, exudation, bleeding, weakness, etc. were interrogated. The answers to these questions were classified as 'never', 'rare', 'sometimes', 'often' and 'all the time'. Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI), Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), Hamilton Anxiety-Depression Scale (HAD) were calculated for each patient. PASI and DLQI scores were classified as > or = and < 10.

Results: We found that the most frequent symptom was pruritus (96.6%). Other frequent symptoms were burning (56.3%), exudation (56.3%) and bleeding (49.4%). Hurting, sensitiveness and bothering were more frequent in women. Percentages of hurting, pain, exudation and weakness symptoms had been increasing with age. Frequency of weakness was significantly high in PASI > or = 10 patients.

Conclusion: Pruritus is a very common symptom in psoriasis. Burning, exudation and bleeding are also common symptoms seen in psoriasis. New scoring systems including symptoms of psoriasis patients may be developed for evaluating the severity of the disease.