Association of patient-reported psoriasis severity with income and employment.

Objective We sought to examine whether psoriasis severity was associated with patient income and employment. Methods Respondents (>30 years old) to National Psoriasis Foundation surveys (2003-2005) were classified by reported body surface area as having mild ( 10%) psoriasis. The relationship between severity and household income ( Results Probability of low income ( P = .0002). Patients with severe disease had lower probability of working full time compared with patients with mild psoriasis but it was not statistically significant. Significantly more patients with severe psoriasis (17%) versus mild (6%) reported that psoriasis was the reason for not working ( P = .01). Limitations Household income was self-reported and may be influenced by household composition, which is unknown. Psoriasis severity was patient reported and not physician assessed. Conclusions This study demonstrated that income and employment were negatively impacted among patients with severe psoriasis compared with mild psoriasis.