OBJECTIVES: Psoriasis is a chronic proliferative skin inflammation associated with an immune-allergic mechanism. With long-term treatment regimen, abnormal recurrences may negatively affect the patients’ health-related quality of life (HR-QoL). In Vietnam, the HR-QoL of patients with psoriasis has not been fully and comprehensive researched. This study aimed to estimate HR-QoL of patients with psoriasis and analyze its influencing factors.

METHODS: Cross-sectional descriptive analysis was conducted using Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) and the structured questionnaire on socio-demographic and clinical characteristics. Patients with psoriasis undergoing treatment at HCMC Hospital of Dermato Venerelogy and satisfied inclusion, exclusion criteria were chosen in the study. Face-to-face interview with patients has been conducted in examination department from January to March of 2018. Analyzing influencing factors were performed with relevant statistical tests with the 95% confidence interval, using SPSS software.

RESULTS: Study sample including 310 patients treated at HCMC Hospital of Dermato Venerelogy with the average age of 48.84 ± 16.27 years and 58.39% male. The mean DLQI score was 6.92 ± 3.89 scores. Among 6 dimensions of QoL, symptoms and feeling dimension has been effected by psoriasis most with the score of 2.99 ± 1.33 (moderate level), followed by treatment dimension (1.77 ± 1.24). Age, living place, occupation and marital status were influential factors on the overall DLQI scores.

CONCLUSIONS: Psoriasis had moderate effect on Vietnamese patient’s HR-QoL. Age, living place, occupation and marital status affect the HR-QoL of psoriasis. More thorough pathology information, patients' income were required for future study in order to achieve complete and comprehensive analytical results.