title: Use of health care services by patients with psoriasis: a population-based study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although psoriasis is seldom life threatening, very few studies have compared differences in health care service use between patients with and without psoriasis.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate differences in health care service use between patients with and without psoriasis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patient details and data on their use of health services were retrieved from the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2000. We included 3649 patients with psoriasis and 3649 without it. Each patient was followed for a 1-year period to estimate their utilization of health care resources. Student t-tests were used to compare differences in health care services use between patients with and without psoriasis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For dermatology services, patients with psoriasis had significantly more outpatient visits (3·5 vs. 0·9), and higher outpatient and total costs (US$148·00 vs. US$12·20 and US$581·60 vs. US$347·20, respectively) than those without psoriasis. For nondermatology services, patients with psoriasis had more outpatient visits (21·3 vs. 17·6), and higher outpatient and total costs (US$904·60 vs. US$663·50 and US$1335·50 vs. US$998·30, respectively) than those without psoriasis. For overall health care service use, patients with psoriasis had significantly more outpatient visits (24·8 vs. 18·5; P < 0·01) and greater total costs (US$1917·10 vs. US$1345·60; P < 0·01) than those without psoriasis. This indicates that the total cost was about 1·4-fold greater for patients with psoriasis than those without it.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients with psoriasis used health care services significantly more often than those without psoriasis.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Life Science, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan.|Sleep Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: L-T
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Kao
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: K-H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Sleep Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.|School of Health Care Administration, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: H-C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: School of Health Care Administration, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: H-C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Irvine School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, CA, U.S.A.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Sleep Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.|Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, No.21, Sec. 2, Nanya S. Rd. , Banciao Dist, New Taipei City, 220, Taiwan.|School of Medicine, Fu-Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: S-D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Chung
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006296:Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011565:Psoriasis / Q000628:therapy*; D013624:Taiwan; D055815:Young Adult