title: The prevalence of previously diagnosed and undiagnosed psoriasis in US adults: results from NHANES 2003-2004.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Psoriasis is a predictor of morbidity. It is important to determine the extent to which psoriasis remains undiagnosed.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the prevalence of psoriasis.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a cross-sectional study using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2003-2004.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of diagnosed psoriasis was 3.15% (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.18-4.53), corresponding to 5 million adults. Approximately 17% of these patients have moderate to severe psoriasis based on body surface area report and 25% rate psoriasis a large problem in everyday life. The prevalence of undiagnosed active psoriasis by conservative estimate was 0.4% (95% CI, 0.19-0.82), corresponding to approximately 600,000 US adults, and 2.28% (95% CI, 1.47-3.50) by a broader definition, corresponding to 3.6 million US adults. Undiagnosed patients had a trend toward being more likely to be male, nonwhite, less educated, and unmarried compared with patients who had received a diagnosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The method for determining the presence of psoriasis had limited ability to detect mild disease and only fair interrater agreement.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  More than 5 million adults have been diagnosed with psoriasis. A large number have undiagnosed psoriasis and there are important disparities which may be associated with not receiving medical attention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.
authors.forename: Shanu Kohli
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Kurd
authors.forename: Joel M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gelfand
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D015995:Prevalence; D011565:Psoriasis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology