Abstract
Background:
Health-related quality of life is an important issue for a patient with chronic disease and severe illness. And it should be an important priority for health policy decision. Psoriasis is a chronic disease that can affect people of all ages. Studies have shown that those with psoriasis have a reduced quality of life. Skin diseases can often be seen as a less severe disease than heart diseases, cancer or diabetes. How is the quality of life of psoriasis patients compared to patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and angina pectoris? Is it comparable? Has it been used generic instruments to measure the quality of life of patients with psoriasis, angina pectoris and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (copd)?
Aim:
The aim of this study is to find out if it is possible to compare the quality of life of patients with psoriasis with patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(copd) and angina pectoris. And to get an understanding of how a skin disease like psoriasis can affect the quality of life, compared to copd and angina pectoris.
Method:
Found articles by using pubmed and searches like ”psoriasis and quality of life”, ”burden and psoriasis”, ”chronic obstructive pulmonary disease”, ”burden and chronic obstructive and quality of life”, ”burden and angina pectoris”, ”quality of life and angina pectoris”.
Results:
Generic quality of life instruments has been used to evaluate the quality of life of patients with psoriasis, angina pectoris and copd. Short form 36 health survey has been used in all three diseases. Based on studies where generic instruments has been used, one can say that copd and angina patients scored worse in terms of physical function and overall health than psoriasis patients. Psoriasis patients had poorer scores in social function and mental health compared to angina pectoris, but the copd patients had the worst score. By using the disease-specific instrument and measuring the psychosocial burden, you can get an understanding of how the disease affects the patient. Studies show that the psychosocial burden of psoriasis is huge and it also affects the patients’ daily life like copd and angina pectoris.
Conclusion:
It is important to use both disease-specific and generic form in a study to get an understanding of how the disease affects the patients, and to compare the results with other chronic diseases. Skin diseases should be a priority like diseases such as angina pectoris and chronic pulmonary disease.