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Frontiers in Immunology 2024Psoriasis vulgaris is associated with a significant healthcare burden, which increases over time as the disease progresses. The aim of this retrospective,...
INTRODUCTION AND AIM
Psoriasis vulgaris is associated with a significant healthcare burden, which increases over time as the disease progresses. The aim of this retrospective, population-based registry study was to characterize healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) in patients with psoriasis using biologics and oral immunosuppressants (conventionals) in Finland.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study cohort included all patients with a diagnosis of psoriasis vulgaris in the secondary healthcare setting between 2012-2018, who initiated a biologic (n=1,297) or conventional (n=4,753) treatment between 2013-2017. Data on primary and secondary HCRU were collected from nationwide healthcare registries.
RESULTS
The results indicated a remarkable decrease in contacts with a dermatologist after the treatment initiation among patients starting biologic (mean annual number of contacts 5.4 per person before and 2.3 after the initiation), but not conventional (3.3 and 3.2) treatment. For conventional starters there was a high level of contacts with a dermatologist surrounding times of treatment switching, which was not observed for biologic starters.
CONCLUSION
Overall, primary and other secondary care contacts did not decrease after the initiation or switch of treatment. The results highlight the importance of thorough consideration of the most optimal treatment alternatives, considering the overall disease burden to patients and healthcare systems.
Topics: Humans; Psoriasis; Finland; Female; Male; Middle Aged; Adult; Retrospective Studies; Biological Products; Patient Acceptance of Health Care; Registries; Aged; Immunosuppressive Agents; Health Resources; Young Adult; Adolescent
PubMed: 38915400
DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1374829 -
Scientific Reports Jun 2024Psoriasis is a chronic skin disease that negatively impacts on patient's life. A holistic approach integrating well-being assessment could improve disease management....
Psoriasis is a chronic skin disease that negatively impacts on patient's life. A holistic approach integrating well-being assessment could improve disease management. Since a consensus definition of well-being in psoriasis is not available, we aim to achieve a multidisciplinary consensus on well-being definition and its components. A literature review and consultation with psoriasis patients facilitated the design of a two-round Delphi questionnaire targeting healthcare professionals and psoriasis patients. A total of 261 panellists (65.1% patients with psoriasis, 34.9% healthcare professionals) agreed on the dimensions and components that should integrate the concept of well-being: emotional dimension (78.9%) [stress (83.9%), mood disturbance (85.1%), body image (83.9%), stigma/shame (75.1%), self-esteem (77.4%) and coping/resilience (81.2%)], physical dimension (82.0%) [sleep quality (81.6%), pain/discomfort (80.8%), itching (83.5%), extracutaneous manifestations (82.8%), lesions in visible areas (84.3%), lesions in functional areas (85.8%), and sex life (78.2%)], social dimension (79.5%) [social relationships (80.8%), leisure/recreational activities (80.3%), support from family/friends (76.6%) and work/academic life (76.5%)], and satisfaction with disease management (78.5%) [treatment (78.2%), information received (75.6%) and medical care provided by the dermatologist (80.1%)]. This well-being definition reflects patients' needs and concerns. Therefore, addressing them in psoriasis will optimise management, contributing to better outcomes and restoring normalcy to the patient's life.
Topics: Humans; Psoriasis; Health Personnel; Delphi Technique; Female; Male; Surveys and Questionnaires; Consensus; Adult; Quality of Life; Middle Aged; Self Concept
PubMed: 38914574
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-64738-6 -
The Journal of Dermatological Treatment Dec 2024Providers who treat patients with psoriasis are unevenly distributed across the United States, with more in urban than rural areas. This retrospective claims analysis...
PURPOSE
Providers who treat patients with psoriasis are unevenly distributed across the United States, with more in urban than rural areas. This retrospective claims analysis characterized disparities in access to care for US patients with psoriasis using data from the STATinMED database.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Patients (≥18 years) had ≥1 claim with a psoriasis diagnosis and ≥1 claim for advanced psoriasis therapy (apremilast or biologics) between January 2015 and December 2019. Access to psoriasis care was determined using the proportion of patients with 0, 1-2, 3-4, or ≥5 providers in their local area.
RESULTS
Overall, 179,688 patients were included in the analysis, 80.0% in urban areas. The access ratio was highest for internal medicine physicians (97.1 per 1000 patients) and lowest for dermatologists (4.4 per 1000 patients) and family practice physicians (3.9 per 1000 patients). In urban areas, 41% of patients had access to ≥5 dermatologists versus 7% in rural areas. Whereas 2% of patients in urban areas sought care outside of their local area, 75% in rural areas did so. Use of advanced therapies was low in all states (<17%).
CONCLUSION
Access to psoriasis-treating providers varied widely. Regardless of access, utilization of advanced treatments was low, suggesting the need for effective, easy-to-administer therapy.
Topics: Humans; Psoriasis; United States; Health Services Accessibility; Retrospective Studies; Female; Male; Middle Aged; Healthcare Disparities; Adult; Rural Population; Aged; Urban Population; Young Adult
PubMed: 38914420
DOI: 10.1080/09546634.2024.2365820 -
Rheumatology Advances in Practice 2024This study contributes to the Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis (GRAPPA)'s effort to define 'difficult-to-treat' PsA (D2T-PsA),...
OBJECTIVES
This study contributes to the Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis (GRAPPA)'s effort to define 'difficult-to-treat' PsA (D2T-PsA), leveraging insights of healthcare professionals who are GRAPPA members. The primary objective is to inform GRAPPA's D2T PsA project, ensuring the consensus definition reflects clinical experience and expertise.
METHODS
An online survey was conducted among GRAPPA's healthcare professionals managing PsA patients. The survey covered demographic details, structured questions, and open-ended queries to gather comprehensive insights into the experts' viewpoints.
RESULTS
About 223 physicians completed the survey, comprising 179 (80.2%) rheumatologists and 40 (17.9%) dermatologists. The majority, 184 (82.5%), favoured establishing distinct definitions for D2T-PsA and complex-to-manage PsA (C2M-PsA). Furthermore, 202 (90.5%) supported a definition that includes objective inflammation signs (clinical, laboratory, imaging, among others). However, opinions varied on the criteria for prior treatment failures, with most (93, 41.7%) favouring a definition that includes at least one conventional synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug and two or more biological- or targeted-synthetic-DMARDs with different mechanisms of action.
CONCLUSION
The survey reveals a majority opinion among GRAPPA experts favouring the differentiation between D2T-PsA and C2M-PsA, and the inclusion of objective inflammatory markers in these definitions. However, there is less than 50% agreement on the specific treatment failure criteria, particularly regarding the number of therapies needed to classify PsA as D2T. These findings suggest a need for continued discussion to reach a more unified approach in defining D2T-PsA, reflecting the complexity of the condition.
PubMed: 38912423
DOI: 10.1093/rap/rkae074 -
The Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic... Jun 2024Patch testing is the standard diagnostic test used for patients presenting with symptoms of allergic contact dermatitis. The grading of patch test results classically...
Patch testing is the standard diagnostic test used for patients presenting with symptoms of allergic contact dermatitis. The grading of patch test results classically varies from 1 to 3. The assessment of these results begins with a visual inspection of the presence of erythema, vesiculation, and induration. This leads to a subjectivity in visual evaluation of a patch test. Positive patch testing results can present differently in patients with darker skin tones. A greater variety of images of allergic contact dermatitis in patients with darker skin phototypes can better guide the diagnosis of this condition in skin of color. People with darker phototypes are historically underrepresented in dermatologic images and texts; thus, identifying erythema in darker phototypes may be more difficult for dermatologists, whether or not they were trained in areas of decreased phototype diversity. In this article, we present positive patch testing findings on several different phototypes, with the intention of contributing to images of phototypes underrepresented in dermatology literature.
PubMed: 38912195
DOI: No ID Found -
Aesthetic Surgery Journal. Open Forum 2024The increasing demand for skin quality interventions in aesthetic medicine underscores the necessity for objective, evidence-based assessment tools that may be used to...
BACKGROUND
The increasing demand for skin quality interventions in aesthetic medicine underscores the necessity for objective, evidence-based assessment tools that may be used to evaluate novel interventions or devices.
OBJECTIVES
To develop and validate a 5-point photonumeric rating scale for assessing overall skin quality, including radiance, color evenness, and smoothness.
METHODS
The IBSA (Institut Biochimique SA) Composite Skin Quality Scale was developed and underwent live validation with 88 real-world patients, chosen to encompass a broad spectrum of skin qualities and Fitzpatrick skin types. Scale validation was performed by board-certified plastic surgeons and dermatologists over 2 rounds, 2 weeks apart. Reliability was assessed through intrarater and interrater agreements, utilizing weighted kappa statistics and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The scale's ability to discern a clinically relevant 1-grade difference was evaluated with 72 photo pairs.
RESULTS
Combined intrarater reliability results showed weighted kappa values of 0.812 (right side) and 0.815 (left side) and an ICC of 0.903 for both sides, indicating an almost perfect agreement. Interrater reliability ranged from substantial to almost perfect, with kappa coefficients between 0.654 and 0.853 and ICCs between 0.657 and 0.855 across all rater pairs in both rounds. The ability to detect a clinically relevant 1-point difference using the scale was established.
CONCLUSIONS
Integrating various key aspects of skin quality, the IBSA Composite Skin Quality Scale is a clinically relevant and highly reliable tool, suitable for skin assessment in clinical studies of new aesthetic technologies and products.
PubMed: 38912092
DOI: 10.1093/asjof/ojae038 -
JMIR Medical Informatics Jun 2024Dermoscopy is a growing field that uses microscopy to allow dermatologists and primary care physicians to identify skin lesions. For a given skin lesion, a wide variety...
BACKGROUND
Dermoscopy is a growing field that uses microscopy to allow dermatologists and primary care physicians to identify skin lesions. For a given skin lesion, a wide variety of differential diagnoses exist, which may be challenging for inexperienced users to name and understand.
OBJECTIVE
In this study, we describe the creation of the dermoscopy differential diagnosis explorer (D3X), an ontology linking dermoscopic patterns to differential diagnoses.
METHODS
Existing ontologies that were incorporated into D3X include the elements of visuals ontology and dermoscopy elements of visuals ontology, which connect visual features to dermoscopic patterns. A list of differential diagnoses for each pattern was generated from the literature and in consultation with domain experts. Open-source images were incorporated from DermNet, Dermoscopedia, and open-access research papers.
RESULTS
D3X was encoded in the OWL 2 web ontology language and includes 3041 logical axioms, 1519 classes, 103 object properties, and 20 data properties. We compared D3X with publicly available ontologies in the dermatology domain using a semiotic theory-driven metric to measure the innate qualities of D3X with others. The results indicate that D3X is adequately comparable with other ontologies of the dermatology domain.
CONCLUSIONS
The D3X ontology is a resource that can link and integrate dermoscopic differential diagnoses and supplementary information with existing ontology-based resources. Future directions include developing a web application based on D3X for dermoscopy education and clinical practice.
PubMed: 38904996
DOI: 10.2196/49613 -
Skin Research and Technology : Official... Jun 2024To evaluate the efficacy and safety of stromal vascular fraction (SVF), platelet rich plasma (PRP), and 1064-nm Q-switched Nd:YAG laser in reducing nanofat treated dark... (Randomized Controlled Trial)
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
The investigation and comparison of the efficacy and safety of stromal vascular fraction (SVF), platelet rich plasma (PRP), and 1064-nm Q-switched Nd:YAG laser in reducing nanofat treated infraorbital dark circles and wrinkles: A controlled blinded randomized clinical trial.
BACKGROUND
To evaluate the efficacy and safety of stromal vascular fraction (SVF), platelet rich plasma (PRP), and 1064-nm Q-switched Nd:YAG laser in reducing nanofat treated dark circles and wrinkles under the eyes.
METHOD
This study was a single-blinded randomized clinical trial conducted on patients with suborbital darkening under the eyes that randomly divided into control and case groups. In the control group, 15 patients were treated with one session of nanofat injection only, and five patients of each intervention groups received one session of nanofat+SVF injection, nanofat+PRP injection, and nanofat injection+Nd:YAG laser, respectively. Assessments methods were (1) evaluation of the degree of darkness and repair under the eyes by a blinded dermatologist based on clinical photographs, (2) investigating patient satisfaction, (3) using biometric variables for color, thickness, and density of the skin (only 3 months after the treatment), and (4) recording the possible adverse effects.
CONCLUSION
In terms of the extent of reduction in the intensity of darkness under the eyes, the combined treatment of nanofat injection together with SVF, PRP, and Nd:YAG laser had a much greater therapeutic effect than nanofat injection alone. In all three groups of combined treatments, patients were 100% satisfied. In terms of biometric variables, amount of changes in colorimeter, complete and dermal thickness, complete and dermal density, between the different groups was statistically significant. The use of combined treatments including nanofat with SVF injection, PRP, and 1064 Q-switched Nd:YAG laser may be more effective than nanofat alone, in reducing infraorbital dark circles and wrinkles.
Topics: Humans; Skin Aging; Female; Lasers, Solid-State; Platelet-Rich Plasma; Middle Aged; Single-Blind Method; Adult; Cosmetic Techniques; Treatment Outcome; Male; Patient Satisfaction
PubMed: 38899793
DOI: 10.1111/srt.13793 -
Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics Dec 2024The burden of herpes zoster (HZ) is anticipated to increase among the aging population of China over time. The knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of the...
Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of the general population, herpes zoster patients, and dermatologists toward herpes zoster in China: A quantitative cross-sectional survey.
The burden of herpes zoster (HZ) is anticipated to increase among the aging population of China over time. The knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of the population toward HZ can help inform the design of public health strategies. As there is a paucity of KAP data in China, this cross-sectional survey therefore sought to assess KAP related to HZ from the general population, patients with HZ, and dermatologists in China. The total number of respondents from the general population, HZ patients, and dermatologists were 804, 282, and 160, respectively. Notably, some gaps in knowledge regarding the severity, transmission, and prevention of HZ were identified across all groups. For example, less than half of respondents from the general population and HZ patients understood that vaccination does not treat HZ. For dermatologists, not all were aware of adverse reactions following HZ vaccination and some had misconceptions regarding the mode of transmission of HZ. Given the link between an individual's disease knowledge to their attitudes and practices, improved understanding of HZ could underlie positive attitudes and help reinforce healthcare professionals' recommendations in the management and prevention of HZ. In particular, doctors may be well-positioned to support HZ prevention initiatives, as most of the general population and HZ patients found vaccination more acceptable if recommended by a doctor (78.9% and 81.6%, respectively). Therefore, consideration of these KAP attributes may support the development of targeted educational interventions and effective public health strategies against HZ in China.
Topics: Humans; Herpes Zoster; Cross-Sectional Studies; China; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Male; Female; Middle Aged; Adult; Dermatologists; Aged; Surveys and Questionnaires; Young Adult; Herpes Zoster Vaccine; Vaccination; Adolescent
PubMed: 38898574
DOI: 10.1080/21645515.2024.2338980 -
Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) May 2024This survey represents the first endeavor to assess the clarity of the dermoscopic language by a chatbot, unveiling insights into the interplay between dermatologists...
This survey represents the first endeavor to assess the clarity of the dermoscopic language by a chatbot, unveiling insights into the interplay between dermatologists and AI systems within the complexity of the dermoscopic language. Given the complex, descriptive, and metaphorical aspects of the dermoscopic language, subjective interpretations often emerge. The survey evaluated the completeness and diagnostic efficacy of chatbot-generated reports, focusing on their role in facilitating accurate diagnoses and educational opportunities for novice dermatologists. A total of 30 participants were presented with hypothetical dermoscopic descriptions of skin lesions, including dermoscopic descriptions of skin cancers such as BCC, SCC, and melanoma, skin cancer mimickers such as actinic and seborrheic keratosis, dermatofibroma, and atypical nevus, and inflammatory dermatosis such as psoriasis and alopecia areata. Each description was accompanied by specific clinical information, and the participants were tasked with assessing the differential diagnosis list generated by the AI chatbot in its initial response. In each scenario, the chatbot generated an extensive list of potential differential diagnoses, exhibiting lower performance in cases of SCC and inflammatory dermatoses, albeit without statistical significance, suggesting that the participants were equally satisfied with the responses provided. Scores decreased notably when practical descriptions of dermoscopic signs were provided. Answers to BCC scenario scores in the diagnosis category (2.9 ± 0.4) were higher than those with SCC (2.6 ± 0.66, = 0.005) and inflammatory dermatoses (2.6 ± 0.67, = 0). Similarly, in the teaching tool usefulness category, BCC-based chatbot differential diagnosis received higher scores (2.9 ± 0.4) compared to SCC (2.6 ± 0.67, = 0.001) and inflammatory dermatoses (2.4 ± 0.81, = 0). The abovementioned results underscore dermatologists' familiarity with BCC dermoscopic images while highlighting the challenges associated with interpreting rigorous dermoscopic images. Moreover, by incorporating patient characteristics such as age, phototype, or immune state, the differential diagnosis list in each case was customized to include lesion types appropriate for each category, illustrating the AI's flexibility in evaluating diagnoses and highlighting its value as a resource for dermatologists.
PubMed: 38893694
DOI: 10.3390/diagnostics14111165