A new study found that psoriasis patients and the people around them, mainly family members, suffer from more depression and anxiety than families not affected by the disease.
Dr. Eliseo Martinez-Garcia, lead author of the study from Virgen de las Nieves University Hospital in Granada, Spain, highlighted that while most research proved that psoriasis patients were more susceptible to anxiety and depression than those who didn't have the condition, this new study was the first to reveal how the condition affected the quality of life of the people surrounding the patient.
"The impact of the dermatological conditions on patients' cohabitants has been largely ignored," Martinez-Garcia told Reuters Health.
The researchers recruited 130 adults to participate in the study; 34 were diagnosed with psoriasis, 49 reported living with the psoriasis patient, and 47 were healthy individuals who didn't have a friend or a family member with psoriasis. The participants answered a 10-item survey to evaluate their depression and anxiety levels.
After careful analysis of the responses, results showed that 88 percent of the housemates of people with psoriasis reported low scores on the quality of their lives. Twenty-five percent of them also admitted that they felt heavily affected by the disease while only a few said that the disease did not affect them.
Anxiety and depression levels were almost the same between the patients and their housemates. Those who did not live with psoriasis patients reported lower levels of anxiety and depression than the other groups.
The researchers believed that their findings could be useful in developing a more holistic approach in curing patients with psoriasis.
"A lot of psoriatic patients that are not doing any treatment would be surprised about how much their condition could be improved," Martinez-Garcia told Reuters Health. "Moreover, some centers and patients associations are already providing specific psychological support for these patients."
Further details of this study were published in the June 9 issue of Dermatology.
