The associations between psychological stress and psoriasis: a systematic review

Psoriasis is estimated to affect around 2–3% of the general population. More than one‐third of Australians report having a significant level of distress in their daily lives. Psychological stress has long been shown to play an important role in the natural history of psoriasis, but the details of th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of dermatology 2018-11, Vol.57 (11), p.1275-1282
Main Authors: Stewart, Thomas J., Tong, Winnie, Whitfeld, Margot J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Disease Progression
Humans
Literature reviews
Psoriasis
Psoriasis - epidemiology
Psoriasis - etiology
Psychological stress
Reviews
Severity of Illness Index
Stress, Psychological - complications
Stress, Psychological - epidemiology
Stress, Psychological - immunology
Symptom Flare Up
Systematic review
Time Factors
Trigger factor
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Summary:Psoriasis is estimated to affect around 2–3% of the general population. More than one‐third of Australians report having a significant level of distress in their daily lives. Psychological stress has long been shown to play an important role in the natural history of psoriasis, but the details of this relationship remain to be clearly defined. We performed a systematic review of the literature with the aim of determining whether there is a temporal association between psychological stress as the predictor and onset and/or exacerbation of psoriasis as the outcome measure. Our secondary aim was to establish whether there is a relationship between the degree of psychological stress and clinical severity of psoriasis. Our systematic review demonstrates a probable temporal association between different measures of psychological stress and onset, recurrence, and severity of psoriasis. In the light of this, we suggest clinicians include “stress” as a trigger factor in their psoriasis assessment and consider psychological interventions as adjuncts, particularly in those who identify as “stress‐responders”.
ISSN:0011-9059
1365-4632
DOI:10.1111/ijd.13956