FRIDAY, April 10, 2020 (HealthDay News) — There are sex- and gender-specific differences related to clinical characteristics and quality-of-life (QoL) measures in patients with psoriasis, according to a study published online March 14 in Clinical and Experimental Dermatology.
Monica Napolitano, M.D., Ph.D., from Istituto Dermopatico dell’Immacolata in Rome, and colleagues analyzed sex and gender differences in 3,023 psoriasis outpatients treated during a three-year period. Disease severity was evaluated by a dermatologist.
The researchers observed sex and gender differences in clinical characteristics, severity of disease, psychological distress, and QoL. Specifically, male sex was associated with body mass index, smoking, alcohol consumption, Psoriasis Area Severity Index ≥10, and age at onset ≥20 years. Female sex was associated with family history of diabetes, joint involvement, clinical type other than plaque diffuse, higher psychological distress, and a greater burden on QoL.
“Clinical severity and health-related QoL measures may not be fully adequate to assess sex/gender differences in psoriasis, as we observed a poorer psychosocial status in female patients and a clinical severity association with male sex,” the authors write.
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