OBJECTIVES: To describe the impact of psoriasis (PS) on health related quality of life (HRQoL) in Latin America (LA).

METHODS: Data were obtained from the Adelphi Psoriasis Latin America Disease Specific Programme. 144 dermatologists (Brazil n=40, Colombia n=30, Argentina n=35 and Mexico n=39) collected data on demographics, clinical characteristics and treatment for patients >18 years old diagnosed with PS for 1 year who had received at least one systemic treatment. HRQoL was measured with the EQ-5D and scores were calculated using the USA Crosswalk Value Set.

RESULTS: The analysis included 941 patients from Brazil (n=320), Colombia (n=179), Argentina (n=209) and Mexico (n=233); 56.4% were male, and mean (SD) disease duration was 12.2 (10.8) years. At the time of survey, 46.8% of the patients had clear skin and 73.7% had experienced flares during the disease course. HRQoL ranged from 0.82 (SD 0.17) in patients from Colombia to 0.87 (SD 0.12) in patients from Brazil. Females reported a lower HRQoL than males (0.82 vs 0.86, p<0.0001). Those experiencing flares had significantly lower HRQoL (0.83 vs 0.88, p<0.0001), with severity of flares also impacting on HRQoL (EQ-5D rating of 0.89 in patients with mild flares to 0.78 in those with severe flares, p<0.0001). Patients with concomitant psoriatic arthritis (PsA) had significantly lower EQ-5D score compared with those without (0.80 vs 0.85, p<0.0001). HRQoL decreased with increasing PS severity (0.88, 0.81 and 0.70 EQ-5D score for mild, moderate and severe psoriasis, respectively, p<0.0001). Patients taking biologic or a combination of biologic and conventional systemic treatments had a higher HRQoL compared to those taking conventional systemic treatments only (0.86, 0.85 and 0.83, respectively, p<0.01).

CONCLUSIONS: Patients with concomitant PsA had a lower EQ-5D score. HRQoL of flares are different amongst LA countries. More research is needed to quantify impact of flares in LA patients.