The relationship between demographic and clinical variables, and quality of life aspects in patients with psoriasis

There is a strong need for health care programmes to promote functioning an d quality of life in patients suffering from psoriasis. The aim of the pres ent study is to highlight the relationships between demographic and clinica l variables and disease-specific disability, health status, the perception of living with a chronic disease and the overall quality of life in patient s suffering from psoriasis. A further aim is to examine the extent to which the effects of demographic and clinical variables on mental health and the overall quality of life are mediated by disability, physical health and th e perception of living with psoriasis. The sample examined in this study co mprised 334 patients (20% in-patients and 80% out-patients) who were treate d consecutively at three dermatology departments in eastern Norway. A total of 282 patients completed the testing procedures, yielding a response rate of 85%. The following questionnaires were used: The Psoriasis Disability I ndex, the Sf-36 and the Quality of Life Scale. Correlation and multiple lin ear regression analyses were performed to address the core issue. Results s how that demographic and clinical variables combine to explain variance in health status, the perception of living with psoriasis and overall quality of life. While most of the variance is explained by the clinical variables, the disease-specific disability variable seems to be an important mediatin g factor.