Who Gets Psoriasis Arthritis?

Psoriasis is an immune-mediated disease which affects the skin and joints. When it affects the skin it commonly appears as red scaly elevated patches called plaques. Psoriasis plaques frequently occur on the elbows and knees, but can affect any area of skin including the scalp and genital area.

Psoriasis can vary in severity, from minor localized patches to extensive or even complete skin coverage. Fingernails and toenails are often affected (psoriatic nail dystrophy). Psoriasis can also cause inflammation of the joints. This is known as psoriatic arthritis.

Who Gets Psoriasis?
More than 4.5 million adults in the United States have been diagnosed with psoriasis, and approximately 150,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. An estimated 20% have moderate to severe psoriasis.

Is Psoriasis Gender Biased?
Psoriasis occurs about equally in males and females. Recent studies show that there may be an ethnic link. It seems that psoriasis is most common in Caucasians and slightly less common in African Americans. Worldwide, psoriasis is most common in Scandinavia and other parts of northern Europe. It appears to be far less common among Asians and is rare in Native Americans.

There also is a genetic component associated with psoriasis. Approximately one-third of people who develop psoriasis have at least one family member with the condition.

Research shows that the signs and symptoms of psoriasis usually appear between 15 and 35 years of age. About 75% develop psoriasis before age 40. However, it is possible to develop psoriasis at any age. After age 40, a peak onset period occurs between 50 and 60 years of age.

Childhood Psoriasis
About 1 in 10 people develop psoriasis during childhood, and psoriasis can begin in infancy. The earlier the psoriasis appears, the more likely it is to be widespread and recurrent.

There is growing emphasis on quality of life research in all of medicine, and psoriasis impacts on every dimension of health-related quality of life. In my patient population, many of my patients are spending an hour a day taking care of their psoriasis and are using numerous treatments. Psoriasis treatment is costly, financially and psycologically.

Psoriatic Arthritis
Psoriatic arthritis develops in roughly one million people across the United States, and 5% to 10% experience some disability. Psoriatic arthritis usually first appears between 30 and 50 years of age, often months to years after skin lesions first occur. However, not everyone who develops psoriatic arthritis has psoriasis. About 30% of people who get psoriatic arthritis never develop the skin condition.

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Psoriatic Arthritis

Psoriatic arthritis is a particular type of inflammatory arthritis that affects roughly twenty percent of those suffering from the chronic skin condition called Psoriasis. Psoriatic arthritis occurs much more frequently among those that have a particular tissue type. The tissue type most affected by psoriatic arthritis is HLA-B27.

For the most part, treatment of psoriatic arthritis is quite similar to treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Mostly treatment involves treating patients with anti- inflammatory drugs, though I believe that an advantage to natural medicine therapies are that the same relief is effected, yet that a deeper cause is more fully addressed as well.

For example, rubbing emu oil into the affected areas, brings ant-inflammatory medicine directly to the affected areas, particularly where the joints do not lie very deep beneath the skin's surface. It has been shown that a combination of emu oil applied topically, along with nutritional supplements of glucosamine, chondroitin and/or MSM, can keep arthritis very much under some semblance of control.

One of the more unique characteristics of psoriatic arthritis is that about eighty percent of those suffering with psoriatic arthritis will develop psoriatic nail lesions which are known by pitting of the nails, or even the complete lack of a nail. When a person loses a whole nail, this is called onycholysis.

Of course onycholysis is a very general term meaning simply disease of deformity of the nail. These can include everything from ingrown toenails to all kinds of odd and rare nail fungus and other deformities of the nails.

Psoriatic arthritis can develop at any age, yet the average age that psoriatic arthritis usually appears is about ten years after the first signs of psoriasis. For most people with psoriatic arthritis, this condition makes an onset between the ages of thirty and fifty, yet it can occur in children and those of other ages as well.

Women and men seem to be pretty equally affected by psoriatic arthritis, whereas osteoarthritis affects nearly twice as many women as it does men. One in seven cases of psoriatic arthritis involve the arthritic symptoms occurring much earlier than any skin problems or skin involvement of the condition.

There are some different types of psoriatic arthritis. There is symmetric psoriatic arthritis where joints on both sides of the body are affected simultaneously. This type accounts for about fifty percent of all psoriatic arthritis cases.

Asymmetric psoriatic arthritis affects around thirty-five percent of people suffering from the disorder. This type of psoriatic arthritis tends to be more mild and does not occur in the same joints on both sides of the body.

Less than five percent of psoriatic arthritis patients suffer from arthritis mutilans which is characterized by severe joint damage and is known to progress over months and years until some type of severe damage is noticed.

Spondylitis is a type of psoriatic arthritis characterized by stiffness in the neck or spine and can also affect the feet or hands. Distal interphalangeal predominant arthritis is characterized by pain and stiffness in joints located closest to the tips of fingers and toes.

The main treatment used for psoriatic arthritis is the administering of anti-inflammatory drugs and nutitional supplements. When psoriatic arthritis does not respond to such treatment, sometimes immunosuppresants such as methotrexate may be used to treat the psoriasis in addition to the arthritis.

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