Why carry out this study?

Psoriatic disease can impair the quality of life. Furthermore, both psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis are known to be associated with depression.

We aimed to assess the burden of disease as well as factors predicting functional impairment and depression in patients with psoriasis and patients with psoriatic arthritis.

What was learned from the study?

Functional impairment, quality of life and depressive symptoms are mutually interdependent. While functional impairment in everyday life is independently associated with depressive symptoms, diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis, and age, depressive symptoms are predicted by functional impairment, diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis, axial complaints, and the number of joint regions with complaints.

Early diagnosis and initiation of anti-inflammatory therapy are crucial to avoid long-term damage, disability, and mental health complications. Awareness and addressing of the identified risk factors may help to overcome unmet needs and improve quality of life for these patients.

Depression is underdiagnosed and undertreated in patients with psoriatic disease, which may contribute to impaired quality of life, increased disease activity, and reduced therapy adherence. Patients should thus be screened for depressive symptoms and access to mental health care should be facilitated.