Ujjwala Kulkarni
Seth G.S. Medical College & King Edward Memorial Hospital
India
Title: A prospective study to assess the impact of prescribed pharmacotherapy on quality life of Indian patients with psoriasis taking treatment in dermatology OPD of the tertiary care hospital at Mumbai
Biography
Biography: Ujjwala Kulkarni
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Psoriasis is a chronic skin disorder with no cure. Very few studies have been published to reflect the impact of established pharmacotherapy on psoriasis patients, perception as well as satisfaction with the treatment in India. METHODS: The present study intended to find out the quality of life of chronic plaque psoriasis patients, using psoriasis disability index (PDI) and to find out the patient satisfaction towards the given pharmacotherapy, using a pre-validated structured patient satisfaction questionnaire. The study was initiated in the Department of Dermatology after taking a permission from the Institutional Ethics Committee, for a period of one and a half years. Patients (n=72) were enrolled after taking a written informed consent. Demographic data were collected. Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI) scores were calculated to grade the clinical severity of psoriasis in the patients. Two different questionnaires viz., Psoriasis disability index (PDI) to evaluate the quality of life and a pre-validated and structured patient satisfaction questionnaire (PSQ) to evaluate the satisfaction of the patients towards the given treatment were used. RESULTS: 50% of the psoriatic patients on treatment showed overall satisfaction towards the given treatment. 24% wanted a change in their current therapy. The correlations of PDI with PASI and PSQ with PASI were analysed by Spearman rank test. The PASI is moderately correlated with daily activity (r=0.43, p<0.0001), personal relation (r=0.47, p<0.001), leisure (r=0.44, p<0.0001) and weakly correlated with treatment (0.22, 0.02). The total PDI and PASI scores are strongly correlated with each other (r=0.76, p<0.0001). The PSQ did not show any correlation with PDI and PASI. CONCLUSION: 50% patients remained dissatisfied with the treatment as their quality of life did not improve. Therefore, psoriasis should be treated with a holistic and integrative approach by the physician along with frequent patient counselling. PSQ showed no