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Pruritus and sleep disturbances in patients with psoriasis

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Abstract

Psoriasis is a prevalent skin disease that impairs multiple domains of quality of life (QoL). Pruritus, a common symptom in patients with psoriasis, may directly affect sleep, but studies investigating this are limited. We investigated the relationships between pruritus and sleep in 104 in-patients with psoriasis, who underwent dermatological assessment and completed questionnaires to determine psoriasis severity, pruritus intensity, sleep quality, QoL (skin disease-specific and generic), depressive mood and anxiety. In total, 80% of patients reported pruritus, and 39% had sleep disturbances, most commonly awakenings during sleep (33%) and sleepiness during the daytime (30%). Sleep impairment was more frequent in patients with pruritus, who had more difficulty falling asleep (P = 0.031). Overall, 14% of all patients and 34% of the patients who reported sleep disturbances reported that their sleep problems were caused by pruritus. Patients who reported sleep disturbances had lower generic QoL. Pruritus in patients with psoriasis was frequent and relevant, as evidenced by the higher rate of sleep problems in this patient group, and it was linked to a lower QoL.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful for the editorial assistance provided by Gillian Brodie of Orbit Medical Communications, Cambridge, UK, with the help of the urticaria network e.V. (UNEV, https://www.urtikaria.net). We also thank Professor Andrzej Kaszuba for enabling us recruitment of patients at the Department of Dermatology, Pediatric Dermatology and Oncology, Medical University of Łódź, Łódź, Poland.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dermatology and Allergy, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany

    Tomasz Hawro, Marlena Hawro, Karsten Weller, Martin Metz & Marcus Maurer

  2. Psychodermatology Department, Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, Medical University of Łódź, Łódź, Poland

    Anna Zalewska-Janowska

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  1. Tomasz Hawro
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Correspondence to Marcus Maurer.

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MH, AZJ, KW, MM and MM have no relevant conflicts of interest. TH has served on an advisory board for Galderma.

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All the procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee (Ethics Committee of the Medical University of Łódź; approval no. RNN/240/09/KE) and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Hawro, T., Hawro, M., Zalewska-Janowska, A. et al. Pruritus and sleep disturbances in patients with psoriasis. Arch Dermatol Res 312, 103–111 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00403-019-01998-7

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