A study undertaken by Dr Carol Bao for Abbott Laboratories looked at health plan data for 7,404 children with psoriasis under age 18 and found that 5.1% were diagnosed with or treated for a psychiatric disorder after health plan enrollment, compared with 4.1% of 37,020 controls.
The investigators also looked at prescriptions for psychotropic medications in assessing risk for development of psychiatric disorders. Prescriptions can be a marker for a diagnosis in cases where the prescribing physician may be hesitant to refer the patient or make a diagnosis.
Psoriasis patients were particularly more likely to be diagnosed with depression (3%) or anxiety (1.8%), compared with controls (2.4% and 1.4%, respectively). For children with psoriasis, the estimated hazard ratio for developing any psychiatric disorder was 1.25, for developing depression was 1.23, and for developing anxiety was 1.32.
The study was limited by the potential for coding and reporting errors in the data and by lack of information on the severity of the psychiatric disorders. However, the findings do suggest that the psychiatric impact of psoriasis on children must be addressed because of the potential for both short-and long-term adverse effects.
Courtesy of Skin and Allergy News
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