title: A survey of psoriasis patients in Japan from 1982 to 2001.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Japanese Society for Psoriasis Research has conducted an annual survey of psoriasis patients in Japan from 1982 to 2001.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To perform the epidemiological study about a survey of psoriasis patients conducted in Japan for twenty years.
  
  
  METHODS
  A sample of 28628 cases was collected from 148 dermatology centers throughout Japan. The reports from each center were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Males (65.8%) were predominant over females (34.2%) in number. The vast majority of cases (86.0%) had plaque-form of psoriasis vulgaris, and 812 cases (2.8%) showed guttate psoriasis. Psoriatic erythroderma (0.8%), generalized pustular psoriasis (0.9%), and localized pustular psoriasis (0.5%) were rare. Three hundred of the patients (1.0%) manifested psoriatic arthritis. Local corticosteroids (67.8%) were the most used modalities, whereas local vitamin D(3) preparations (2.4%) were rarely used. For photo-therapeutic treatments, topical (12.1%) and systemic (7.5%) PUVA were predominant over UVB therapy (0.5%). In systemic treatments, drugs from the herbal medicine was the first (14.2%), followed by etretinate (7.6%), nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (4.4%), oral corticosteroids (4.1%), methotrexate (2.8%), cyclosporine (1.6%), and anti-cancer drugs (1.4%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This survey was the first epidemiological study throughout Japan.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Kinki University School of Medicine, Ohno-Higashi 377-2, Osaka-Sayama city, Osaka 589-8511, Japan. kawada@med.kindai.ac.jp
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kawada
authors.forename: Tadashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tezuka
authors.forename: Yoshio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakamizo
authors.forename: Hideto
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: Hidemi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakagawa
authors.forename: Muneo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ohkido
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ozawa
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ohkawara
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Shotaro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Harada
authors.forename: Atsuyuki
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Igarashi
mesh_terms: D000287:Administration, Topical; D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones / Q000008:administration & dosage; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D017668:Age of Onset; D002762:Cholecalciferol / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011565:Psoriasis / Q000145:classification / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D017678:Sex Distribution
chemical_list: D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones; D002762:Cholecalciferol