Psoriatic Disease

August marks Psoriasis Awareness Month, a time to spread information about the disease and its treatment options, as well as to support those who experience its manifestations.

A social movement is underway in the United States, sparked by the deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, both at the hands of police officers.

As COVID-19 expanded throughout the country, health care and treatment regulations evolved to prevent further spread. More recently, as states have started to reopen, providers have had to adapt to ever-changing recommendations.

The gap between patient-reported outcomes and clinician-assessed endpoints in rheumatology is well documented. Patients generally care about pain, fatigue and the emotional toll immune-mediated diseases can take, while physicians are more likely to pay attention to interleukin activity or C-reactive protein levels.

Welcome to the premier issue of Healio Psoriatic Disease, a publication developed to further educate and provide resources for dermatologic health care professionals on the burden of psoriatic disease and the emerging understanding of psoriasis as a systemic disease. Led by a nationally and internationally known peer perspective board comprised of physicians from medicine’s most prestigious institutions (listed below), it is our goal to bridge the knowledge gap between dermatology and rheumatology physicians and health care professionals to create the definitive, practical information resource for specialists and others who treat patients with psoriatic disease.

Patients with cutaneous immune-mediated diseases, such as psoriasis, atopic dermatitis and hidradenitis suppurativa, may not have an increased risk for developing severe COVID-19, based on available data from the current and previous coronavirus outbreaks.

Prevalence rates of psoriasis are lower among the Latino population than the white or black population in the U.S., but Latino populations are often disproportionately affected by poorer quality of life and disease severity, according to recent findings.