Disease severity associated with work absenteeism in psoriasis patients

Key takeaways:

• Patients with moderate to severe psoriasis were 2.68 times more likely to take a half-day or more from work vs. those with mild disease.
• Researchers suggest this is due to emotional, physical and social burdens.

Individuals with moderate to severe psoriasis experience work absenteeism more than those with a mild form of the disease, according to a study.

“The estimated total annual economic burden of psoriasis in the U.S. is $112 billion,” Kathryn Lee, BA, of the Saint Louis University School of Medicine, and colleagues wrote. “Up to 40% of the total costs of psoriasis are thought to be the result of decreased productivity and work loss.”

According to the study, one aspect of work loss includes work absenteeism, which is when an individual misses work due to an illness or disability. Patients with psoriasis have been estimated to miss approximately 1.26% more days of work compared with individuals without psoriasis.

Lee and colleagues conducted a national, cross-sectional study to investigate how various severity levels of psoriasis affect work absenteeism. The study included data from the 2009 to 2019 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey which evaluated 5,209,956 adults with mild (n = 4,521,687) and moderate to severe psoriasis (n = 688,269).

Results showed that work absenteeism was much higher among patients with moderate to severe disease vs. mild disease. The number of episodes per year that an individual missed work for at least a half day due to psoriasis in the mild group was 2.8 compared with 4.4 in the moderate to severe group (P = .002).

After adjusting for demographic factors, the authors found that individuals with moderate to severe psoriasis were 2.68 times (95% CI, 1.72-4.21) more likely to take a half-day or more from work than those with mild psoriasis.

According to the authors, several factors may influence why those with moderate to severe psoriasis miss work more often than those with a mild form of the disease.

“Increased emotional burden may contribute to the higher reports of work absenteeism in moderate to severe psoriasis patients compared to patients with mild disease,” the authors posited. “In addition to emotional burden, psoriasis results in symptoms that can profoundly impact patients’ quality of life and work productivity. Itching, pain and scaling of the skin are the most commonly reported symptoms of psoriasis.”

Emotional and physical burdens may also be accompanied by social burdens such as stigma and embarrassment from extensive psoriasis coverage on the skin that is seen in more moderate to severe disease groups than mild groups.

According to the authors, this increased frequency of work absenteeism among this group, and the effects it has on their careers and livelihoods, highlights the need for early diagnosis and treatment to mitigate disease progression and economic loss.