Postal questionnaire study of disability in the community associated with psoriasis

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Abstract
Objective: To study the disability caused by psoriasis in patients recorded as having psoriasis by their general practitioner. Design: Postal questionnaire survey using the psoriasis disability index and SF-36. Setting: Five general practices in Cleveland. Subjects: Of 767 patients identified, 546 completed the questionnaire and 435 were eligible and gave informed consent. Main outcome measures: Scores on SF-36 and psoriasis disability index. Results: The psoriasis disability index score was highly negatively correlated with all eight of the SF-36 health measures (PConclusions: Patients with psoriasis have an overall lower perception of their quality of life than healthy controls, and those in the lower social classes suffer a greater degree of disability from their disease than the higher social classes. In this study people with psoriasis had a greater disability than healthy controls These patients did not consult about their skin condition frequently, yet most used some treatment The manual social classes suffer greater disability than non-manual classes The psoriasis disability index may help measure disability in general practice