title: Quality of life and comorbidities in palmoplantar pustulosis - a cross-sectional study on 102 patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Association of palmoplantar pustulosis (PPP) with metabolic and autoimmune diseases has been reported in mostly small case series or anecdotal cases.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess health-related quality of life and prevalence of comorbidities in a large cohort of PPP patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a cross-sectional study on patients with either active or past PPP. Disease severity was measured by the Palmoplantar Pustulosis Area and Severity Index (ppPASI). Quality of life was assessed by the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI). Comorbidities were evaluated by medical history, blood examination, stool testing for Helicobacter pylori antigen and screening tools for depression and psoriatic arthritis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 102 patients (87 women, 15 men) with a mean age of 52.6 ± 14.1 years were evaluated. The mean DLQI was 7 ± 6. Comorbidities were frequent and consisted of hypercholesterolaemia (38%), hypertension (32%), obesity (27%), metabolic syndrome (26%), depression (24%), diabetes (19%), autoimmune thyroiditis (16%) and psoriatic arthritis (16%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients with PPP have an impaired quality of life and a broad range of comorbidities. Contrary to other reports, our investigation failed to show an association between PPP and coeliac disease or H. pylori infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Trattner
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Blüml
authors.affiliation: Center for Medical Statistics, Informatics and Intelligent Systems, Section for Medical Statistics, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Steiner
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Plut
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Radakovic
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tanew
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011565:Psoriasis / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D011788:Quality of Life