Real world insights for psoriasis: the association of severity of skin lesions with work productivity, medical consumption costs and quality of life.

Background: Psoriasis is a prevalent, chronic skin disease with a potential impact on work productivity, medical consumption costs, and quality of life. The influence of the extent of skin lesions on these outcomes is not well known.

Objective: We determined associations of self-reported skin lesions with self-reported work productivity, medical consumption costs, and health-related quality of life in respondents with psoriasis.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we included respondents with self-reported psoriasis in the Netherlands in an online questionnaire. We assessed the self-reported percentage body surface area (BSA) of psoriasis lesions. We used validated instruments to assess work productivity (WPAI-PsO), medical consumption costs (iMCQ), and health-related quality of life (EQ-5D-5L and the DLQI). We used ordinal logistic regression to associate BSA categories >1% versus 0-1% with outcomes adjusted for multiple confounders.

Results: We included 501 respondents with a mean age of 43 ± 12 years; 64% were men. Median BSA was 2% (interquartile range 1-5%). A higher BSA was associated with higher overall work impairment due to psoriasis (common odds ratio [cOR] 2.44, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.40-4.29;  = 205), higher medical consumption costs (cOR 2.06, 95% CI 1.45-2.94) and lower health-related quality of life. Associations were strongest with a BSA cutoff of 0% or 1% compared to 2% or higher categories.

Discussion: In our study, having few to no lesions in psoriasis was associated with lower overall work impairment due to psoriasis, lower medical consumption costs, and higher health-related quality of life.