Optimism as a predictor of health-related quality of life in psoriatics

Abstract

IntroductionPsoriasis is a chronic and relapsing disease which significantly affects the quality of life and social functioning of the affected people. It is one of the so-called psychodermatological diseases, which means that there exists a psychological component in the image of the disease.AimTo examine the relationship between health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in psoriatics and selected demographic, medical and psychological (dispositional optimism) variables and to determine the predictors of HRQoL in the examined group.Material and methodsThe study consisted of 138 patients with the diagnosis of psoriasis vulgaris. Most respondents (125) had psoriasis on exposed parts of the body. Methods used: SKINDEX, Life Orientation Test, PASI.ResultsThe gender does not differentiate patients in terms of HRQoL and optimism. Almost all of analyzed variables correlate with HRQoL and all examined variables explain the results variability for overall HRQoL but only optimism explains the highest percentage of the variability (β = –0.35).ConclusionsThe study demonstrated a very interesting relationship – the stronger optimism the better quality of life in psoriatics. So, a generalized expectation of positive life events is related to better assessment of HRQoL.

Health-related quality of life in patients with psoriasis: a systematic review of the European literature

“…Confirming these results, disease activity determined using a visual analog scale showed a correlation with the DLQI and the PASI [31]. Several studies confirmed the finding that improvements in HRQoL were linked to the enhancements of clinical manifestations of the disease [19,22,32], and identified disease severity (assessed by the PASI) as a predictor of HRQoL [21][22][23][24][25] (Table 4). In line with these results, the determinants of HRQoL measured by the DLQI indicated that a one-unit increase in PASI from the mean would increase the DLQI score by 0.29 (p = 0.002) [33].…”

“…Out of a total of eight studies, four indicated that young patients presented more deteriorated HRQoL, and established age as a factor related to a better HRQoL [13,21,25,26]. In contrast, three papers stated that older people experienced more problems with physical [17], emotional, and social functioning due to psoriasis [23,25]. These results suggested that adapting to psoriasis later in life may be more difficult than at an earlier age, when a patient is young and has more time to learn how to deal with the negative emotions related to psoriasis [23].…”

“…In contrast, three papers stated that older people experienced more problems with physical [17], emotional, and social functioning due to psoriasis [23,25]. These results suggested that adapting to psoriasis later in life may be more difficult than at an earlier age, when a patient is young and has more time to learn how to deal with the negative emotions related to psoriasis [23]. Finally, one publication showed that there was no correlation between HRQoL and the age of the patient [27] (Table 3).…”

“…Gender differences were concentrated on emotional and psychological aspects of experiencing psoriasis, and results revealed that women perceived a greater impact of psoriasis on mental health [18]. On the other hand, two of these eight studies did not find any correlation between gender and HRQoL [23,24] ( Table 3). The relation between age and HRQoL is not clear, or can even be considered a matter of controversy.…”

Psychodermatology from the perspective of a psychologist

“…Simultaneously, the same texts provide information about the psychological aspects of dermatological conditions, psychological stress experienced by the affected individuals, the role of emotions or the need of psychotherapy. In addition, most scientific publications are written on the basis of the psychological method; alternatively, publications containing, as one of the key words, the notion of psychodermatology are written with the participation of psychologists, or by the latter themselves (among others, Basińska & Woźniewicz, 2012;Basińska & Szymańska, 2013;Janowski, Steuden, & Bereza, 2014;Janowski, Steuden, & Bogaczewicz, 2014;Miniszewska, Juczyński, Ograczyk, & Zalewska, 2013;Miniszewska, Chodkiewicz, Ograczyk, & Zalewska, 2013).…”