Pediatric patients with psoriasis and psychiatric disorders: premorbidity and comorbidity in a case-control study

Psychiatric disorders are thought to play an important role in the onset, exacerbation and course of several chronic dermatological diseases. We aimed to investigate psychiatric diagnoses in children with psoriasis before and during the disease and to examine potentially related factors.

A total of 108 children aged 8-16 years, 54 with a diagnosis of psoriasis and 54 healthy individuals, were included in the study. Participants were evaluated using The Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia, Present and Lifetime Version (K-SADS PL), Children's Dermatology Life Quality Index (CDLQI), Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) and Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), and the results were compared using statistical techniques.

At least one psychiatric diagnosis was present in 70.3% of children with psoriasis and in 27.7% of the control group, the difference being significant (p = .0001). It was seen that 73.6% of children with a psychiatric diagnosis were psychiatric diagnoses in the premorbid period. Children with psoriasis were determined to have 9.21-fold greater risk of anxiety (p = .0001) and a 6.65-fold greater risk of depression (p = .0019) compared with the control group.

A statistically significant increase in psychiatric disorders occurs in disease periods in cases of pediatric psoriasis. Moreover, a high prevalence of psychiatric disorders was detected in the premorbid process. We think that it is important for these to be considered in the management of the disease and in controlling exacerbation, and for the mechanisms involved to be elucidated.