Epidemiology and quality of life of patients with psoriasis in Chile

Abstract

Background: Clinical characteristics of psoriasis vary between different races and climates. There are few data on Latin American and even fewer on Chilean patients with psoriasis. Objectives: To assess that clinical characteristics and quality of life (QoL) of a group of Chilean patients with psoriasis. Methods: A cross-sectional, observational and analytic study was conducted at the Dermatology Department of the Clinical Hospital of the University of Chile between July 2006 and December 2008 applying an epidemiological and QoL-related survey to psoriatic patients. Results: One hundred fifty-three patients with psoriasis were included in the study. The mean (SD) age was 42.7 (14.9) years and 60.1% of the patients were male. The most frequent disease subtype was plaque psoriasis (71.9%), followed by "guttatiform" (guttate morphology without confirmed streptococcal infection) psoriasis (17.7%). In 38.6% of patients, less than 10% of body surface area (BSA) was affected. Joint involvemen