Current psoriasis treatments in an Italian population and their association with socio-demographical and clinical features

Background Patient adherence is a key element for therapeutic success and represents a major concern for all healthcare professionals. Objective Aim of our study was to assess the frequency of use of treatments currently available for psoriasis and its association with specific socio-demographical and clinical variables. Methods The study population consisted of 1689 patients, aged 1285 years. Information concerning socio-demographical variables, clinical features and the type of current treatment was collected. Items on patients satisfaction of current treatments and of dermatologist-patient relationship were also included. The chi-squared test was used to estimate the association between the categorical variables, whereas Wilcoxon and KruskalWallis tests were applied to the interval and ordinal variables. The CochranMantelHaenszel chi-squared trend test was used to evaluate the degree of satisfaction related to dermatologistpatient relationship. Results Of the 1689 psoriatic patients, 54.1% did not use any treatments and 45.9% used at least one treatment. The use of drugs was significantly associated exclusively to severity of disease and affected body surface area. Systemic therapies, both traditional treatments and biological agents, were mainly used in patients with disease duration >10 years and disease severity. Treatment adherence was significantly associated to the degree of patients satisfaction of his/her relationship with the dermatologist. Alternative treatment such as over the counter medications and acupuncture were used by 33% of patients. Conclusion The majority of psoriatic patients do not use any treatments. However, treatment adherence significantly increases when dermatologists clarify the treatment schedule, inform patients and meet the patients needs.