Treatment use and satisfaction among patients with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis: results from the NORdic PAtient survey of Psoriasis and Psoriatic arthritis (NORPAPP)

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

Background: There are scarce data in Scandinavia about treatment satisfaction among patients with psoriasis (PsO) and/or psoriatic arthritis (PsA). The number of patients receiving systemic treatment is unknown. Objective: To describe patients’ experience of treatments for PsO/PsA in Sweden, Denmark and Norway, addressing communication with physicians, satisfaction with treatment and concerns regarding treatment options. Methods: The NORdic PAtient survey of Psoriasis and Psoriatic arthritis (NORPAPP) asked 22 050 adults (randomly selected from the YouGov panels in Sweden, Denmark and Norway) whether they had PsO/PsA. A total of 1264 individuals who reported physician-diagnosed PsO/PsA were invited to participate in the full survey; 96.6% responded positively. Results: Systemic treatment use was reported by 14.6% (biologic: 8.1%) of respondents with PsO only and by 58.5% (biologic: 31.8%) of respondents with PsA. Biologic treatments were more frequently reported by respondents considering their disease severe (26.8% vs 6.7% non-severe) and those who were members of patient organizations (40.7% vs 6.9% non-members). Discussing systemic treatments with their physician was reported significantly more frequently by respondents with PsA, those perceiving their disease as severe (although 35.2% had never discussed systemic treatment with their physician) and those reporting being a member of a patient organization (P < 0.05). Many respondents reported health risk concerns and dissatisfaction with their treatment. Of special interest was that respondents aged 45–75 years reported less experience with biologics (8.1%) than those aged 18–44 years (21.5%). The older respondents also reported more uncertainty regarding long-term health risks related to systemic treatments (most [66.7–72.9%] responded ‘do not know’ when asked about the risk of systemic options). Conclusion: It appears likely that substantial numbers of Scandinavians suffering from severe PsO/PsA are not receiving optimal treatment from a patient perspective, particularly older patients. Also, one-third of respondents with severe symptoms had never discussed systemic treatment with a physician.

Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology
Volume33
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)340-354
Number of pages15
ISSN0926-9959
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019

Number of downloads are based on statistics from Google Scholar and www.ku.dk


No data available

ID: 241432884