ASSOCIATION OF PSYCHIC STRESS WITH CLINICAL SEVERITY AND SYMPTOMS OF PSORIATIC PATIENTS

The association of stress with psoriatic skin and joint symptoms was s tudied in 38 patients with psoriasis by dividing the patients into low -stress and high-stress groups based on their answers to four question naires (General health questionnaire, Somatization questionnaire, Depr ession questionnaire, and Life change questionnaire), measuring minor psychiatric disorder, psychosomatic reactivity, depression and life ch anges, respectively. Compared to the low-stress group (n=21), the pati ents in the high-stress group (n=17) had more severe skin and joint sy mp toms and a higher score, which in established psoriatic General sev erity score that was calculated by judging Psoriasis Area and Severity Index, activity of psoriasis and the presence of joint symptoms, All the four questionnaires showed higher morbidity frequency and higher s core points, Actively spreading psoriasis was significantly associated with stressful life events for men but not for women. However, in the low-stress group, men had experienced significantly fe,ver stressful events than women, Psoriasis Area and Severity Index showed strong cor relation with the Somatization score, but no differences between men a nd women, The General severity score correlated with the Somatization score, and the higher the General severity score (score greater than o r equal to 6) the higher were all the four questionnaire scores, Also, patients having joint symptoms had higher scores in all of the four p sychic questionnaires than patients without joint symptoms, By the chi -test, female patients with joint symptoms showed a significant correl ation,vith the high General health questionnaire, The presence of join t symptoms showed a tendency for correlation in women with high depres sion level and in men with high somatization level, This study suggest s that psychic stress is associated with exacerbation of psoriasis, an d more attention to mental wellbeing should be paid at least in the ca se of those psoriatic patients seeking actively for medical care.