Disease burden, symptoms, and use of analgesics in patients with psoriasis with or without psoriatic arthritis: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Patients with psoriasis have an impaired quality of life and higher use of analgesics than the general population. Whether such use is due to skin pain or a consequence of joint pain resulting from psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is not clear.

OBJECTIVES: To assess symptoms, disease burden, and use of analgesics in patients with psoriasis with and without PsA.

METHOD: Symptoms, general health (EurQol 5-dimension and 5-levels), and use of analgesics were assessed in patients with psoriasis and the general population from the Danish Skin Cohort.

RESULTS: We included 4016 patients with psoriasis (847 with concomitant PsA) and 3490 reference individuals. For patients with psoriasis having PsA, itch, skin pain, and/or joint pain was associated with worse general health. Use of opioids within 12 months was observed among 9.0% of the general population, 14.2% of patients with psoriasis without PsA, and 22.7% of patients with concomitant PsA. Of the symptoms, only joint pain was associated with use of analgesics (odds ratio, 3.72 (2.69-5.14); P < .0001).

LIMITATIONS: Cross-sectional design.

CONCLUSION: Patients with psoriasis (especially concomitant PsA) have a higher use of analgesics compared with the general population, which appears to be a result of increased joint pain.