Background: Psoriasis is a common, chronic and recurrent, inflammatory disease of the skin. With no sociodemographic psoriasis data available in Turkey, we decided to investigate the clinical features and distribution of this disease in our country.
Methods: The records of 329 patients with psoriasis were retrospectively reviewed.
Results: Psoriasis constituted 1.3% of the total dermatological disorders. Sixty-one per cent of the patients were female, and 39% were male. The mean age at onset of disease was 25 +/- 16 years in females, and 28 +/- 15 years in males. Family history was positive 30% of the patients. A positive family history was observed in 25% of the females and 37% of the males. 312 cases (95%) had psoriasis vulgaris, 17 cases (5%) had pustular psoriasis. Of the patients with psoriasis vulgaris, 212 (68%) had plaque, 73 (23%) guttate, 18 (6%) palmoplantar, 9 (3%) inverse type. The mean and median PASI score were 3.7 +/- 3.8 & 2.7 for females, 5.4 +/- 6.1 & 3.5 for males, respectively. 1.5% of patients had psoriatic arthropathy. Nail changes were seen in 54 (16%) of the cases. The various nail involvement types observed in descending frequency were: pitting (13%), subungual hyperkeratoses (7%), onycholysis (2%), discoloration (1.5%), oily spot (1%) and splinter hemorrhages (0.3%).
Conclusions: The prevalence of psoriasis in Turkey is similar to numbers reported in South America and Germany. Females were predominant, and the mean age of onset was lower in women. Positive family history was more frequent in males. Plaque type psoriasis was the most common presentation. The difference between mean PASI scores of female and male patients was not statistically significant. Psoriatic arthritis was extremely rare in Turkish psoriasis patients. Pitting was the most common abnormality of the nails.