News - March 2022

Clinical and Physical Characteristics of Psoriasis Affect Quality of Life Among Pediatric Patients
According to a study published in Pediatric Dermatology, psoriasis has a negative effect on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among pediatric patients, and there was a strong correlation between disease severity scores and HRQoL.

Researchers designed a retrospective cross-sectional study that consisted of 40 pediatric patients with psoriasis. Additionally, the Children Dermatology Life Quality Index (CDLQI) was used to evaluate HRQoL.

The results showed that the mean Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) score was 8.03 ± 9.31 ranging 0.4 to 25, and the mean CDLQI score was 18.87 ± 8.15, which indicated a considerable burden on HRQoL. Therefore, there was a strong correlation between CDLQI and PASI scores.

“Taking HRQoL indices into account while managing adolescent patients will improve our insight into the patient's experience and may provide better patient adherence to treatment,” lead author Pedram Nourmohammadpour, department of dermatology, School of Medicine Razi Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran, and coauthors wrote.

Reference
Nourmohammadpour P, Ehsani AH, Hatami P, et al. Do clinical severity scores correlate with the quality of life in children with psoriasis? A cross-sectional study of Iranian pediatric patients. Pediatr Dermatol. Published online February 21, 2022. doi:10.1111/pde.14891

Assessment of Serum Calprotectin as a Novel Biomarker for Patients With Psoriasis
According to a study published in Minerva Medica, patients with psoriasis had a high level of serum calprotectin compared with healthy controls, and this biomarker had high accuracy in identifying patients.

The research took place at the dermatology unit of Magna Graecia University in Catanzaro, Italy, where 45 participants were enrolled between January 2018 and July 2019. Of these participants, 32 were patients with psoriasis and 13 were healthy controls. Psoriasis severity was assessed by the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index. Researchers found that patients with psoriasis had a significantly higher body mass index than controls; after performing the t test for unpaired data, serum calprotectin was also higher in these patients compared with controls. Additionally, because serum calprotectin showed a significant area under the curve after performing the receiver operator characteristic curve analysis, it is possible that serum calprotectin could play a role in identifying patients with psoriasis.

“The results showed that serum calprotectin levels were significantly higher in the patient group than in the control group. This result confirms the observations present in the literature,” lead author Elisabetta Scali, department of health sciences, Magana Graecia University of Catanzaro, Italy, and coauthors wrote.

Reference
Scali E, Dastoli S, Procopio AC, et al. Evaluation of serum calprotectin as novel biomarker in psoriatic patients: a prospective pilot study. Minerva Med. Published online February 15, 2022. doi:10.23736/S0026-4806.22.08041-7