Psoriasis Affects an Estimated 3% of US Adults

TOPLINE:

Approximately 3% of adults in the United States have psoriasis, with a higher prevalence among older adults, individuals with overweight or obesity, and non-Hispanic White individuals, according to the results of a large database study.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers analyzed data from the 2023 National Health Interview Survey, a public cross-sectional survey database providing sampling weights to create a representative population of the United States.
• The analysis included 29,486 participants, of whom 942 reported a history of psoriasis.
• Researchers assessed differences among various subgroups.

TAKEAWAY:

• Approximately 3.0% of adults reported a psoriasis diagnosis (3.1% among men and 2.9% among women).
• Prevalence was 3.8% among non-Hispanic White individuals, 3.6% among those with a body mass index (BMI) of ≥ 30, and 3.1% among those with health insurance.
• Non-Hispanic White individuals (odds ratio [OR], 2.29; 95% CI, 1.87-2.80), those with a higher BMI (OR, 1.40; 95% CI, 1.15-1.69), and individuals older than 50 years (OR, 1.31; 95% CI, 1.11-1.55) showed a higher odds of psoriasis.
• Individuals with psoriasis reported lower life satisfaction (P P = .02) than those without psoriasis.

IN PRACTICE:

“The prevalence of psoriasis has remained at 3.0% and is most common among non-Hispanic White individuals,” the authors wrote. They referred to a previous US database study using 2011-2014 data that also reported a prevalence of 3.0%. The study also “revealed that those with psoriasis were more likely to report lower life satisfaction compared to those without psoriasis,” they added, “highlighting the significant impact psoriasis has on quality of life.”

SOURCE:

The study was led by Brandon Smith, MD, University Hospitals Community Consortium in Cleveland, and was published online on December 13 in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

LIMITATIONS:

The study was limited by the lack of information about psoriasis severity in the database and reliance on self-reported data.

DISCLOSURES:

This study did not receive any funding. The authors report no relevant conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.