New study finds even a 'small' amount of psoriasis can negatively impact ...( Portland Ore. March 29 2004 A study...),Health

Portland, Ore., March 29, 2004 A study released Saturday in a special issue of the Journal of Investigative Dermatology (JID) finds that many adults with relatively small areas of psoriasis on their skin nevertheless report high levels of dissatisfaction with their current treatment, and also feel that psoriasis is a problem in their daily life. In all, an estimated 1.75 million adults in the United States say their psoriasis is a problem for them in everyday life, and more than 1 million are dissatisfied with their current treatment, even though only about 120,000 adults have what has traditionally been considered an extensive amount of psoriasis covering their skin.

"All too often we hear from psoriasis patients who have given up on treatment, and who have given up hope. Psoriasis has such a significant negative impact on lives physically, socially and emotionally and yet society often trivializes the disease," said Gail M. Zimmerman, president and CEO of the National Psoriasis Foundation, which commissioned the survey upon which the paper was based. "This study is a powerful reminder that even those patients whose psoriasis is not considered 'severe' by traditional measurements nevertheless deserve and need additional treatment options that will work for them."

The paper, written by a team led by Robert S. Stern, MD, a Member of the Psoriasis Foundation's Medical Board and Professor of Dermatology at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, also found that more than 2% of American adults--or more than 4.5 million people--have been diagnosed with psoriasis, a serious and often debilitating, lifelong skin disease that involves the immune system.

"Hundreds of thousands of Americans with relatively little psoriasis still consider their disease to be a burden in their lives, and almost as many are dissatisfied with their treatment," Dr. Stern said. "This suggests that we must look beyond the amount of surface area of a patient's b
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Contact: Michael Paranzino
mike@psoriasis.org
503-546-8393
National Psoriasis Foundation
29-Mar-2004

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