AGE AND GENDER DIFFERENCES IN THE IMPACT OF PSORIASIS ON QUALITY-OF-LIFE

Background. The impact of psoriasis upon the quality of life contribut es significantly to the overall morbidity associated with the disease. An older age at onset of psoriasis and being a man have been associat ed previously with lower psychosocial morbidity. In order to further e valuate these potentially important mitigating factors, we examined th e relation of age and gender on some aspects of psoriasis-related psyc hosocial morbidity. Methods. Two hundred and fifteen consenting psoria sis patients, representing a wide range of disease severity, were stud ied. They included 110 men and 105 women, age range 19-87 years (age: mean +/- SD: 48.0 = 15.9 years); all endorsed a list of 30 items (by c hecking a ''Yes'' or ''No'') pertaining to life events related to psor iasis that they had experienced in the previous one month. The patient s self-rated the severity of their psoriasis. The patients were catego rized into four age groups of 18-29 years (N = 28), 30-45 years (N = 7 7), 46-65 years (N = 76), and > 65 years (N = 34), respectively, for t he statistical analyses. Results. No age or gender differences in the severity of psoriasis were observed. Patients of both sexes in the 18 to 29 and 30 to 45 year age groups reported more frequent (P less than or equal to 0.05) problems related to both appearance/socialization a nd occupation/finances, in contrast to patients in the 46-65 and over- 65-year age groups. No gender differences (P less than or equal to 0.0 5) were observed in the frequency of items related to appearance and s ocialization; however, men reported greater work-related stresses. Con clusion. Psoriasis has a greater impact upon the quality of life of pa tients in the 18 to 45 year age range and affects the socialization of both sexes equally. Men face greater work-related stresses as a resul t of their psoriasis.