Dermatology Life Quality Index and disease coping strategies in psoriasis patients

Introduction
Psoriasis is a chronic, psycho-dermatological condition. Psychological factors can trigger and/or exacerbate skin lesion. Relapse of disease can be a source of stress and can worsen the patient’s Quality of Life. Coping with psoriasis can create stress. This can become a vicious cycle.

Aim
To illustrate the connection between quality of life and coping strategies in a psoriasis patient group and to describe a methodology for identifying the risk group of patients who need immediate attention in terms of developing better coping strategies.

Material and methods
Fifty patients with psoriasis were enrolled in the study. The severity of psoriasis was assessed by the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI), the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) was used for quality of life assessment, and the COPE questionnaire was used for determination of coping strategies used by psoriasis patients.

Results
The results of the study indicate the relationship between quality of life and coping strategies. In patients with coping < 140 and at least elementary education, psoriasis disease is most likely to have an extremely large effect on quality of life as measured by the DLQI score being above 21.

Conclusions
Psoriasis is a distressing disorder that significantly impairs quality of life. There is a close link between quality of life and coping strategies. This study illustrates a methodology for identification of a risk group of patients with a highly decreased quality of life indicator and underdeveloped coping strategies. Future management of psoriasis may require involvement of multidisciplinary teams that help patients to manage the physical and psychological aspects of psoriasis.