title: Quality of life in psoriasis patients.
abstract: Patient-reported outcomes are major components of decision making in clinical research, reimbursement, health policy and health care for psoriasis. The most important construct in patient-reported outcomes is health-related quality of life (HRQoL) which encompasses the individual's well-being with respect to health. HRQoL cannot directly be measured but is assessed in single dimensions, especially physical, emotional, social and functional aspects. For this, disease- and condition-specific instruments are used. Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease affecting the skin as well as other tissues and organ systems. Patients suffer from a large scale of impairments, for example, physical symptoms, stigmatization and embarrassment, psychological strain and disabilities in profession. Improvement of HRQoL is a major objective of disease management. Current knowledge on determinants of HRQoL and the treatments available increase QoL in clinical care.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health Services Research in Dermatology and Nursing - IVDP, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Martinistrasse 52, D - 20246 Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Augustin
authors.forename: Marc Alexander
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Radtke
mesh_terms: D003657:Decision Making; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000379:methods; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods; D063868:Patient Outcome Assessment; D011565:Psoriasis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D011788:Quality of Life
keywords: cumulative life course impairment; disease burden; psoriasis; quality of life; stigmatization