Dermatological life quality index in psoriasis

Abstract

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Psoriasis is an immune mediated chronic inflammatory disorder characterized by chronicity of the condition and periods of relapses and remissions. Dermatological life quality index (DLQI) is a widely used measure to determine the patient reported outcome in psoriasis. This study was conducted to evaluate the quality of life in psoriasis patients depending upon their age, sex, type of the disease, duration of the disease and with treatment.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> This is a cross sectional study performed in a tertiary care center in Chennai. The study was performed in 100 patients with a prepared DLQI questionnaire. The patients were asked to fill in the questionnaire and the results were graded from mild to very severe.<strong></strong></p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> In this study, males outnumbered women in the ratio of 1.2:1. Patients in the age group 41-60 years formed the majority in this study. Itching and soreness of the lesions worsened the DLQI in majority of the patients. Quality of life of patients with psoriasis vulgaris was much affected when compared with other types of psoriasis like erythrodermic and scalp psoriasis. Also, married patients with psoriasis had significant impairment in their quality of life compared to unmarried patients.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> The findings of this study showed that psoriasis has a significant impairment in the quality of life and hence DLQI should be assessed at the first visit and also after treatment to improve the compliance of the patients towards the doctor as well as to the treatment.</p>