A pilot study of resilience and severity of depressive symptoms in patients with psoriasis

Patients with psoriasis show an increased prevalence of depressive symptoms that worsen disease outcomes. This study investigated the effect of resilience and other sociodemographic/clinical variables on depressive symptoms' severity in patients with psoriasis.

This study included 58 psoriasis patients consecutively enrolled during the 14 months of the study. We evaluated psoriasis severity using the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index, Body Surface Area, and Physician Global Assessment. The psychometric assessment included the Resilience Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). We divided participants into two subgroups based on the optimal BDI-II cut-off score (Group A: BDI-II ≤17; Group B: BDI-II >17). A stepwise regression analysis explored whether the variation in the BDI-II score could be predicted by a linear combination of sociodemographic and clinical variables.

Psoriasis patients with more severe depressive symptoms (Group B patients) showed lower resilience levels than Group A patients (p <0.001). Moreover, depressive symptoms correlated only with resilience levels (p <0.001), with a negative correlation. The stepwise regression analysis revealed that resilience explained 37.1 % of the variance in BDI-II scores, whereas resilience, gender, and comorbidity with other physical illnesses combined explained 51.3 % of the variance.

Resilience may alleviate depressive symptoms in psoriasis patients. This study underscores the importance of resilience-building interventions for these patients. HIPPOKRATIA 2022, 26 (4):131-137.