Disease burden, symptoms, and use of analgesics in patients with psoriasis with or without psoriatic arthritis: A cross-sectional study.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Patients with psoriasis have an impaired quality of life and higher use of analgesics than the general population. Whether such use is due to skin pain or a consequence of joint pain resulting from psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is not clear.

OBJECTIVES:

To assess symptoms, disease burden, and use of analgesics in patients with psoriasis with and without PsA.

METHOD:

Symptoms, general health (EurQol 5-dimension and 5-levels), and use of analgesics were assessed in patients with psoriasis and the general population from the Danish Skin Cohort.

RESULTS:

We included 4016 patients with psoriasis (847 with concomitant PsA) and 3490 reference individuals. For patients with psoriasis having PsA, itch, skin pain, and/or joint pain was associated with worse general health. Use of opioids within 12 months was observed among 9.0% of the general population, 14.2% of patients with psoriasis without PsA, and 22.7% of patients with concomitant PsA. Of the symptoms, only joint pain was associated with use of analgesics (odds ratio, 3.72 (2.69-5.14); P < .0001).

LIMITATIONS:

Cross-sectional design.

CONCLUSION:

Patients with psoriasis (especially concomitant PsA) have a higher use of analgesics compared with the general population, which appears to be a result of increased joint pain.

• Authors: Nikolai Loft, Thao Thi Nguyen, Lars Erik Kristensen, Jacob P Thyssen, Alexander Egeberg
• Journal: Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology (J Am Acad Dermatol) Vol. 86 Issue 3 Pg. 590-597 (03 2022) ISSN: 1097-6787 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 34314746 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2021 American Academy of Dermatology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Chemical References

• Analgesics

Topics

• Analgesics (therapeutic use)
• Arthralgia (diagnosis, drug therapy, etiology)
• Arthritis, Psoriatic (complications, diagnosis, drug therapy)
• Cost of Illness
• Cross-Sectional Studies
• Humans
• Pain (drug therapy, etiology)
• Psoriasis (complications, drug therapy, epidemiology)
• Quality of Life