Treatment of psoriasis in the Nordic countries: a questionnaire survey from 5739 members of the psoriasis associations data from the Nordic Quality of Life Study

• Main Authors: Zachariae, H, Zachariae, R, Blomqvist, K, Davidsson, S, Molin, L, Mørk, C, Sigurgeirsson, B
• Other Authors: Department of Dermatology, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Society for the Publication of Acta Dermato-Venereologica 2008
• Subjects: Administration; Topical; Analysis of Variance; Anthralin; Anti-Inflammatory Agents; Calcitriol; Complementary Therapies; Cyclosporine; Dermatologic Agents; Europe; Female; Health Care Surveys; Humans; Male; Methotrexate; Middle Aged; PUVA Therapy; Psoriasis; Questionnaires; Steroids; Norway; Iceland
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2336/33477

To access publisher full text version of this article. Please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links field The data from a questionnaire-based study of 5,739 members of the psoriasis associations of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the Faeroe Islands showed that the two most commonly used active agents were topical steroids (89.7% total use and 49.4% present use) and calcipotriol (73.1% total use and 35.8% present use), with only small variations between the countries. Marked differences between the countries were, however, found within all other types of psoriasis therapy, including the so-called alternative treatments. Significant priorities varied between the different countries. The use of dithranol in Finland was almost twice the average. While 14.2% of Danish members had received grenz-rays within the last week only 0.1% of the Finns had been given the same treatment. Psoralen plus ultraviolet A (PUVA) was being used by 13.1% of the Finnish psoriatics compared with 3.8% of Danes, while PUVA was almost non-existent on the Faeroe Islands. The use of non-PUVA phototherapy was highest in Norway and Sweden. Almost 10% of the Danes were presently on methotrexate, which was used far more than etretinate/acitretin or cyclosporine. In contrast, Finnish patients more often received etretinate than other systemic agents, and in Iceland there was a higher present use of cyclosporine than of etretinate. The popularity of alternative therapies was highest in Iceland, where 26.6% had taken such medication during the last week. The results of the study suggest that different treatment patterns should be taken into consideration when discussing the prognosis of psoriasis in different countries.