Psoriasis is not “just” a skin disease, but a condition that can seriously compromise the psycho-physical well-being of those affected. However, not isolating yourself and maintaining relationships with family, friends, partners and colleagues helps you live well with this chronic, inflammatory, non-contagious disease. To remember this, on the occasion of the World Day celebrated on 29 October, is theItalian Psoriasis Association Friends of the Corazza Foundation (APIAFCO) which discloses the data of a survey conducted on over 360 patients.
Chronic disease with many therapies
Psoriasis, from which around two million Italians suffer, 200 thousand of which have a severe form, is certainly a visible pathology: it manifests itself with lesions on the skin and tends to favor some parts of the body over others (elbows, knees, scalp , lumbosacral region, hands and feet). However, there is also an “invisible” aspect, which goes beyond appearances: both because it can affect other organs besides the skin, and because it can negatively influence the quality of life of patients, exposing them to the risk of stress, loneliness and psychological distress. It is not an infectious or contagious pathology, but is characterized by phases of remission alternating with phases of worsening: psoriasis has a complex nature and is multifactorial, i.e. genetic, immunological and environmental factors contribute to its development. In some cases, triggers such as medications, psycho-emotional stress, physical trauma and respiratory tract infections can aggravate or trigger skin lesions. Furthermore, in recent years, psoriasis has been increasingly delineated as a systemic pathology, i.e. more generalized and associated with various other diseases (mainly of the cardiometabolic type) and can be associated, in a percentage varying between 5 and 30% of patients, to psoriatic arthritis. If in many cases there is no definitive cure, there are many therapies available today (for serious, moderate and mild cases) which allow you to achieve a previously unthinkable goal: having clean skin, free from reddish patches and covered with scales (typical manifestations of pathology) and without the itching and embarrassment that often accompany them.
Survey data
The data from the APFIACO survey (in which 369 members from all over Italy participated, with a generational coverage ranging from 11 to 87 years) indicate that the possibility of sharing anxiety, fears and uncertainties, and receiving emotional support and solid answers under the therapeutic profile, it allows you to deal with relationships with the people “who matter” with greater confidence: family, friends, partners, colleagues. According to those interviewed, the wealth of awareness acquired in the APIAFCO community positively influences relationships with others, so that for a significant portion of interviewees (64.2%) the incidence of psoriatic disease in everyday life is important only in some aspects (47 .9%). Unfortunately, this does not apply to a particularly high number of people who declare that this incidence is absolute (33%), with consequent isolation caused by stress, anxiety and psychological distress. Going into detail: in relationships with family, over feelings of burden and sadness (26.8%), sharing prevails (68.1%), while as regards the sphere of friendships, over the sense of insecurity (26, 5%) that of acceptance prevails, where psoriasis is indicated as “a life companion to which one has become accustomed” at 41.1%; this last dimension is also present in relations with the world of work (53%), but as a counterpoint there is a decidedly too high percentage of discomfort factors (33.1%).
The initiative will take place on 28 October in Bologna
«Perceiving this sentiment among our members is a source of great satisfaction, it is the signal that we are going in the right direction with respect to the commitment to support APIAFCO members in the path of knowledge of the pathology within an associative context rich in quality relationships , and – where required – support networks and psychotherapeutic support, real antidotes to stress and loneliness” comments Valeria Corazza, president of the association. It goes in this direction «Psoriasis. Let’s talk about it, let’s talk about it. I’m fine, and you?”, the event celebrating World Psoriasis Day 2023 organized by APIAFCO, which will be held in Bologna on 28 October at 3 pm: it is an “experiential” format that involves immediate interaction and live broadcast of the public present with the president Valeria Corazza, the dermatologists Federico Bardazzi and Vera Tengattini, the psychologist Paola Mamone and with the other psoriatic patients who experience the same dimension (clinical and psychological). An opportunity to explain the value of associations, capable of positively impacting the psoriatic patient’s ability to relate to other people, but the positive results in terms of relationships with others must not distract from what happens in the personal sphere of those who live the disease which (again according to the survey responses) has changed the relationship with one’s body for the worse in 73.5% of those interviewed.
Insert psoriasis into the National Chronicity Plan
Not only that: for the majority of those interviewed, psoriasis is a problem for their personal fulfillment (59.4%), an obstacle to sexuality (55.7%), a factor that limits or prevents sports practice (58%), a multiplier of complexity in travel and holiday planning (62.3%). «To improve the situation of millions of Italians with psoriasis it is essential to include psoriasis in the National Chronic Care Plan – concludes Corazza -. The absence of formalized management pathways contributes to determining the compromise of the effectiveness of the therapy, the worsening of health conditions and the worsening of the quality of life, together with the increase in costs borne by the National Health Service, which also include those relating to the association of psoriasis with other immune-related diseases, cardiovascular and chronic pathologies such as metabolic ones, as well as psychological distress and depression due to the severity of the pathology and localization (face, private parts, etc.)”.
October 27, 2023 (modified October 27, 2023 | 6:52 pm)
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