Psychosocial impact of psoriasis: The statistics

More than half of the psoriasis patients surveyed by the National Psoriasis Foundation (NPF) said their psoriasis was disfiguring. Seventy-three percent of the thousands of people who responded said they felt angry or frustrated about their psoriasis. And 59 percent reported psoriasis was a large problem in their everyday lives.

RELATED: “I, like many others, pretty much tried to hide my condition … so I didn’t have to explain myself,” says Brian Lafoy, 44, of Plano, Texas, who was diagnosed with psoriasis in his early 20s. He tells his story on how psoriasis impacted his life.

That was among the findings of phone and Internet surveys conducted by the NPF from spring 2004 through spring 2009. Of the 4,725 psoriasis sufferers responding, 75 percent had moderate-to-severe disease and 25 percent had mild disease. Females made up 59 percent of the total respondents, 73 percent of whom were over age 40.

Of the survey respondents, 87 percent were Caucasian, 4 percent Hispanic/Latino/mixed, 2 percent African-American; 2 percent Asian-American and 1 percent Native American.

Among other survey findings:

• 73 percent of respondents said they feel self-conscious about their psoriasis;

• 65 percent said that psoriasis makes their appearance unsightly;

• 72 percent of respondents suffer from itching, 70 percent from physical irritation, and 59 percent from physical pain from psoriasis;

• In addition to the 59 percent who said psoriasis was a large problem in their everyday lives, 17 percent admitted the disease is a very large problem in their everyday lives;

• 75 percent of minority respondents said psoriasis impacted their overall emotional well-being, compared with 62 percent of Caucasians;

• Minority respondents were also more likely than Caucasian respondents to feel self-conscious, embarrassed, angry or frustrated and helpless because of psoriasis;

• Among the general population of respondents, 74 percent of those ages 20 to 39 said psoriasis had a large impact on their overall emotional well-being, compared with 59 percent of respondents over 40.

*Source: National Psoriasis Foundation 2014 www.psoriasis.org

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