The impact of psoriasis on professional life: PsoPRO, a French national survey

The physical, social and mental burden of psoriasis is well known, but its occupational impact has been less investigated.

To assess the impact of psoriasis on the working life of patients compared with the general population.

A national survey compared people with and without psoriasis using online questionnaires. In addition to the demographic, medical and professional characteristics, data on recent absenteeism and presenteeism were captured using the validated WPAI-PSO questionnaire.

The patient sample comprised 714 with psoriasis (PsO), including 81 treated with systemic therapies (PsoST), and 84 with associated psoriatic arthritis (PsO + PsA). The control sample comprised 604 active subjects representative of the French population. Compared to controls, the impact of the disease on working life was no greater in PsO patients. Conversely, unemployment within the past 5 years and mean number of sick leaves within the previous year were more frequent in PsO + PsA. In patients with active psoriasis skin lesions, all aspects of the WPAI questionnaire were negatively impacted in PsoST and PsO + PsA patients, but not in PsO patients: Levels of absenteeism were 3.3% in controls, 5.6% in PsO (NS), 8.3% in PsoST (P < 0.05) and 13.0% in Ps0 + PsA (P < 0.05); impairment in presenteeism reached 27.0%, 21.2% (NS), 43.5% (P < 0.05) and 53.2% (P < 0.05), respectively, while overall work impairment was 27.9%, 22.2% (NS), 46.3% (P < 0.05) and 57.6% (P < 0.05), respectively. Nevertheless, a higher proportion of PsoST and PsO + PsA patients reported that work was more important than any other activity in their life.

The occupational impact of psoriasis is important and significant in patients who receive systemic therapy or have concurrent PsA but minimal or absent in other psoriasis patients. The findings show that psoriasis patients have a high level of motivation to work.