Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Psoriasis. A heartbreak for the patient… and maybe others as well… next
Psoriasis Causes More Depression and Anxiety to Family Members
Shereen Lehman writing for Reuters reported a new study found that psoriasis patients
and the people around them, mainly family members, suffer from more depression and anxiety
than families not affected by the disease. Dr. Eliseo Martinez-Garcia, lead author of
the study from Virgen de las Nieves University Hospital in Granada, Spain, highlighted that
while most research proved that psoriasis patients were more susceptible to anxiety
and depression than those who didn't have the condition, this new study was the first
to reveal how the condition affected the quality of life of the people surrounding the patient.
"The impact of the dermatological conditions on patients' cohabitants has been largely
ignored," Martinez-Garcia told Reuters Health. The researchers recruited 130 adults to participate
in the study; 34 were diagnosed with psoriasis, 49 reported living with the psoriasis patient,
and 47 were healthy individuals who didn't have a friend or a family member with psoriasis.
The participants answered a 10-item survey to evaluate their depression and anxiety levels.
After careful analysis of the responses, results showed that 88 percent of the housemates of
people with psoriasis reported low scores on the quality of their lives. Twenty-five
percent of them also admitted that they felt heavily affected by the disease while only
a few said that the disease did not affect them.
Comment: Although we’ve come a long way with this disease, we still have much to do.