Depressiveness, measured with Beck Depression Inventory, in patients with psoriasis

Background: The aim of this study was to identify demographic and clinical factors predisposing to depressiveness during the course of psoriasis.

Method: The study included 239 patients with psoriasis (15-76 years, 31.8% of women) and 123 healthy controls (17-74 years, 32.5% of women). Dependent variable in the analysis was Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) score. Explanatory variables included: age, sex, marital status, education, occupational activity, body mass index (BMI), systolic and diastolic blood pressure, history of smoking, average number of smoked cigarettes, skin lesions visible to others, comorbidities, including arterial hypertension and arthritis, number of previous hospitalizations and family history of psoriasis.

Results: Psoriatics showed higher BDI scores than the controls, and significantly more often presented with depressiveness. Depressiveness correlated with psoriasis, older age, female sex, lack of higher education, occupational inactivity, higher BMI, visible skin lesions, comorbidities, including arterial hypertension and arthritis, greater number of previous hospitalizations and lack of family history of psoriasis. Multivariate analysis showed than independent predictors of any grade depressiveness were psoriasis (OR=2.26, 95%CI: 1.11-4.60, p=0.024), older age (OR=1.03, 95%CI: 1.01-1.05, p=0.005) and female sex (OR=2.73, 95%CI: 1.45-5.12, p=0.002).

Limitations: Cross-sectional, non-prospective analysis. Selection bias.

Conclusions: Patients with psoriasis, irrespective of its severity and related complications, are at increased risk of depressiveness. The risk of secondary depressiveness is particularly high in psoriatic women and older persons (or individuals diagnosed with psoriasis at younger age). Individuals from this group should be monitored for potential depressive symptoms.