Usefulness and reliability of insurance databases in psoriasis studies

[Fred]

This study looked at the usefulness and reliability of insurance databases in psoriasis studies.

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Background:
Psoriasis is one of the most frequent chronic inflammatory dermatoses in the world. Data on the prevalence of psoriasis in adults differ depending on the study.

Objective:
To estimate the prevalence of patients with treatment for psoriasis in France and to identify and characterize patients receiving systemic treatments.

Methods:
This was a French, nationwide cohort study based on health administrative data from the French national health insurance scheme linked to the national hospital discharge database (SNDS‐PMSI). All adults with psoriasis registered in the SNDS between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2016 were eligible for inclusion. All patients with a new prescription for a systemic treatment for psoriasis were included.

Results:
A total of 874,549 patients were identified as having psoriasis (mean±SD age 53.8±17 years; 52.4% males); 112,969 (13%) had filled at least one prescription for a systemic medication used to treat psoriasis. The prevalence of patients with treatment for psoriasis was estimated at 1.3%. Overall, 73,168 and 16,545 were new users of conventional systemic treatments and biologics, respectively. The most frequent comorbidities associated with psoriasis were hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Conclusion:
The prevalence of psoriasis we found was lower than in other studies. It was probably underestimated because we identified only patients with treatment for psoriasis. Our results concerning comorbidities associated with psoriasis patients requiring systemic treatment were similar to those from other published studies using other data sources, highlighting our ability to catch moderate‐to‐severe psoriasis. This study highlights the usefulness and reliability of the use of insurance databases in studies, because they allow for a better application to the general population.

Source: onlinelibrary.wiley.com

*Early view funding unknown

[Caroline]

The most frequent comorbidities associated with psoriasis were hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Well.... that is a surprise.
What about all those dermatologists that are warning for heart problems? What about Crohns as a comorbidity?

It is known that people with Psoriasis have a high obesitas rate, for whatever reason.
I do know that a high weight and thus a high BMI. Is one of the triggers for ... hypertension and diabetes. That suggests that the mentioned comorbidities in the research do not come from having psoriaisis.

The other two... dyslipidemia and obstructive pulmonary disease, is for me the first time that I am hearing this in relation to Psoriasis.