Comparative study of quality of life and psychosocial characteristics in patients with psoriasis and leg ulcers

Psoriasis and leg ulcers have a marked impact on the patient's quality of life and represent a life-long burden for affected patients. The aim of this study is to compare the quality of life, anxiety and depression, self-esteem, and loneliness in patients with psoriasis and leg-ulcer patients. Eighty patients with leg ulcers, eighty patients with psoriasis, and eighty healthy controls were included in this study. The quality of life, depression and anxiety, loneliness of the patient, and self-esteem were assessed using the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the UCLA loneliness Scale (UCLA-Version 3), and the Rosenberg's Self-esteem Scale (RSES), respectively. The DLQI score among patients with psoriasis was 12.74 +/- 4.89 and leg ulcer patients was 13.28 +/- 2.57. The patients with psoriasis presented statistically significant higher anxiety (9.87 +/- 4.56) than both leg ulcer patients (8.26 +/- 2.82) and controls (6.45 +/- 1.89), while leg ulcer patients also presented higher anxiety than controls. Regarding self-esteem, although there were no significant differences between the patients with psoriasis (15.25 +/- 3.20) and the ones with leg ulcers (15.89 +/- 2.93), they both presented statistically significant lower self-esteem scores than control group (18.53 +/- 3.04). The patients with psoriasis presented statistically significant higher levels of loneliness and social isolation (46.18 +/- 6.63) compared to leg ulcer patients (43.73 +/- 5.68) than controls (42.49 +/- 3.41). Psoriasis and leg ulcers are long-term skin diseases associated with significant impairment of the patient's quality of life, anxiety, and self-esteem, which are frequently under-recognized.