EARLY-ONSET (LESS-THAN-40 YEARS AGE) PSORIASIS IS COMORBID WITH GREATER PSYCHOPATHOLOGY THAN LATE-ONSET PSORIASIS - A STUDY OF 437 PATIENTS

Early onset(<age 40 years) psoriasis has been reported to be more read ily triggered by environmental factors such as stress, in contrast to late onset (greater than or equal to age 40 years) psoriasis, We exami ned whether certain psychopathologic factors differentiated the psoria sis patient with early onset versus late onset disease, One hundred an d thirty-seven psoriasis inpatients completed a battery of psychosocia l questionnaires, Logistic regression analysis, using the psychologic measures, age and TBSA affected as independent variables, revealed tha t higher Anger-In (Anger Expression Scale) scores significantly (p<0.0 5) increased the odds or probability of having early versus late onset psoriasis, Psoriasis with onset prior to age 40 is comorbid with grea ter difficulties with assertion and expression of anger, a personality trait that may adversely affect the patient's capacity to cope with s tress.