Psoriasis prevalence

LomhoH, G., Psoriasis Prevalence, Spontaneous Course and Genetics. Gad, Copenhagen, 1963. 

Psoriasis is a common inflammatory skin disorder which is estimated to affect 1.5% to 3% of the Caucasian population.1,2 It may present at any age.3,4 Ethnic factors influence disease prevalence. In the United States, prevalence among blacks (0.45% to 0.7%) is lower than in the remainder of the United States population (1.4% to 4.6%).1 Between 10% and 30% of patients with psoriasis will also have psoriatic arthritis.5 In 10% to 15% of psoriatic patients with arthritis, joint symptoms actually appear prior to skin involvement.3 Clinical depression is another frequent comorbid illness in these patients. A recent United States survey showed that 8% to 10% of psoriatic patients aged 18 to 54 years old actively contemplated suicide because of their psoriasis.6... 

Studies conducted in twins show a threefold increased risk of psoriasis in monozygotic twins versus fraternal twins.7 In addition, based on a study in 3,095 families with psoriasis, the calculated lifetime risk of developing psoriasis if no parent, one parent, or both parents have psoriasis was found to be 0.04, 0.28, and 0.65, respectively. If there was already one affected child in the family, the risks were increased to 0.24, 0.51, and 0.83, respectively.7,9 As many as 71% of patients with psoriasis during childhood have some positive family history.1 Similarly, psoriatic arthritis is heritable, with a prevalence 19 times higher in first-degree relatives of patients with psoriatic arthritis than in the general population.7... 

Horrobin, D.F., Low prevalences of coronary heart disease (CHD), psoriasis, asthma and rheumatoid arthritis in Eskimos are they caused by high dietary intake of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), a genetic... 

The cutaneous adverse effects of lithium have been reviewed (401,402). Lithium can cause aggravation of psoriasis. Other dermatological problems related to lithium treatment include acne, folliculitis, and maculo-papular eruptions. The prevalence of dermatological difficulties is up to 45%, although many have reported a much lower rate, less than 4%. Men are more susceptible to than women. Most patients can be managed without withdrawing lithium, but aggravation of psoriasis may make it necessary. 

Psoriasis can occur in association with chronic juvenile arthritis as well as Reiter s syndrome. Some investigators have demonstrated a significant increase in prevalence in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection.The pathogenesis of this relationship is imclear, but an immune recognition event may occm related to the HLA-B27 antigen. A large, retrospective, population-based study found that psoriatic arthritis is mild, imcom-mon, and not associated with a significant increase in mortality. 

BIOCHEMISTRY OP SKIN DISEASE TABLE 1 Prevalence op Psoriasis 321... 

How common is psoriasis Estimates of the prevalence of psoriasis in the population at large vary from 0.2 to 4% (Table 1). Bereston and Cecclini (B9) and Sutton (S29) based their data on a study of Army personnel therefore, the mean age of the population studied was low and all were men. This no doubt explains the low frequencies since most studies indicate that the mean age of onset of psoriasis is in the twenties and about four years later in men than in women (Table 2). Lane and Crawford (Ll) actually reported an incidence rather than a prevalence figure for psoriasis since they were reporting the percentage of new cases of psoriasis admitted to the Massachusetts General Hospital per year per total hospital admissions. The prevalence of the disease would be expected to be much higher than the incidence, since once it appears it rarely goes away and it does not decrease the life expectancy of the... 

Because of the periodic character of psoriasis, the poverty of lesions in some cases, and a distribution on sites hidden by clothing, most surveys would tend to underestimate the prevalence. There are many psoriatics who never go to a dermatologist for care and some who never seek care from any physician however, psoriasis represents about 6% of all new patients seen by dermatologists B20, LI), and an even greater proportion of his patient visits since this is a chronic disease. 

H14. Hellgren, L., Psoriasis, the Prevalence in Sex, Age, and Occupational Groups in Total Population in Sweden. Almqvist Wiksell, Stockholm, 1967. 

Psoriasis is universal in occurrence and affects up to 3% of the American population. Approximately 25% of affected patients have severe conditions. The disorder occurs in all racial groups but is most prevalent in Caucasians. It is equally common in males and females. Two peaks of age of onset have been described the greatest incidence is between 20 and 30 years, and a smaller peak occurs between 50 and 60 years of age however, the age of onset is widely variable from infancy to old age. Although rarely Life-threatening, psoriasis has an adverse physical and emotional impact on quality of life." ... 

Psoriasis is a relatively common chronic skin disease (Blauvelt et al., 2003 Lebwohl, 2003). Estimates of its prevalence vary from... 

A recent review of epidemiological studies covering 24 specific autoimmune diseases estimated that approximately 3% of the population in the United States suffers from an autoimmune disease (Jacobson et al., 1997). This estimate is likely to be low, as for many diseases our knowledge of basic epidemiology is quite limited or based on studies conducted 30 or more years ago, and some diseases (e.g. psoriasis) were not included in this summary. A revised estimate of the prevalence of autoimmune diseases presented in a recent report of the United States National Institutes of Health (2000) is 5-8%. Comparable figures for other countries are not available. 

Bhate SM, Sharpe GR, Marks JM, et al. 1993. Prevalence of skin and other cancers in patients with psoriasis. Clin Exp Dermatol 18 401-404. 

Psoriasis is a chronic, inimnne-mediated inflammatory skin disease with a prevalence generally stated to be around 2 % but, depending on the population, this fignre can range from zero in Samoa to as high as 4.8 % in the USA (US range 0.6-4.8 %). Ethnicity appears to be involved, for example, American blacks show a prevalence of only 0.45-0.7 % and, likewise, there appears to be... 

More serious than acne, but less prevalent, are the skin diseases atopic eczema and psoriasis. Lipids have been suggested to be involved in both of these complaints although it must be stated that the evidence at present is equivocal. It has been noted in patients with atopic eczema that there is a disturbance in the normal tissue complement of polyunsaturated fatty acids. For convenience blood samples have usually been analysed and these usually exhibit reduced levels of y-linolenic (A6,9,12-octadecatrienoic) acid. y-Linolenate is an intermediate in the normal conversion of the essential fatty acid, linoleate, to the eicosanoid precursor arachidonate ... 

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