Evaluation of the Demographic and Clinical Data of Psoriasis Patients: A Detailed Analysis of a Big Series

Aim:Psoriasis is a chronic disease and requires follow-up settings to manage. The aim of the study is to evaluate the clinical characteristics, disease course, the factors associated with the psoriasis area severity score index (PASI), comorbidities, and treatment of psoriasis in our follow-up psoriasis outpatient clinic.Methods:Clinical data from patients who were followed in the University of Health Sciences Turkey, Haseki Training and Research Hospital psoriasis outpatient clinic between January 2015 and March 2021 were examined. The relationships between age, age of the disease onset, gender, joint involvement, and nail involvement were analyzed.Results:In total, 618 patients were included in our study (320 males and 298 females). The median age of the patients was 42 (1- 87) years. Family history was present in 25.9% of the patients. The most common clinical type was plaque psoriasis (80.2%). The median value of the PASI was 8.1. The disease course of the patients was progressive (46.4%), remission and exacerbations (37%), and regressive (16.7%). Nail involvement and joint involvement were observed in 58.1% and 24.2% of the patients, respectively. A significant correlation was found between PASI and joint involvement (p=0.009). Onycholysis (a type of nail involvement) was a positive predictive indicator for joint involvement (p=0.004). Comorbidity was present in 34.5% of the patients. Obesity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and dyslipidemia were the most common comorbidities. While 19.9% of the patients received only topical treatment, 80.1% underwent systemic treatment.Conclusions:The socio-demographic and enriched clinical data of psoriasis highlight the features that should be considered, especially in follow-up outpatient clinics. Patients showing an early onset of the disease should be investigated for severe involvement, such as the presence of onycholysis in the nail or evidence of joint involvement. The follow-up and treatment of patients with psoriasis are important in terms of comorbidities.