Psoriasis
About this PSP
Led by a group at the University of Manchester, the Psoriasis Priority Setting Partnership (PSP) gathered over two thousand questions in their initial survey from people who have experienced psoriasis, been affected by psoriasis (eg, carers and family members) and the health professionals who care for them. The 20 most important questions were jointly agreed at a priority setting workshop in September 2018.
The work was funded and supported by the Psoriasis Association and involved collaboration with the UK Dermatology Clinical Trials Network, based at the University of Nottingham's Centre for Evidence Based Dermatology.
The Psoriasis PSP Top 10 was published in November 2018.
For World Psoriasis Day in October 2020, the Psoriasis Association launched two videos in which Professor Chris Griffiths and Dr Helen Young answer questions received by the PSP about psoriasis and treatments, which have already been answered by research. The answers to these questions are known but have not yet made their way into common knowledge and many people still ask about them.
Top 10 priorities
- Do lifestyle factors such as diet, dietary supplements, alcohol, smoking, weight loss and exercise play a part in treating psoriasis?
- Does treating psoriasis early (or proactively) reduce the severity of the disease, make it more likely to go into remission, or stop other health conditions developing?
- What factors predict how well psoriasis will respond to a treatment?
- What is the best way to treat the symptoms of psoriasis: itching, burning, redness, scaling and flaking?
- How well do psychological and educational interventions work for adults and children with psoriasis?
- Does treating psoriasis help improve other health conditions, such as psoriatic arthritis, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome and stress?
- Why do psoriasis treatments stop working well against psoriasis and when they stop working well, what’s the best way to regain control of the disease?
- To what extent is psoriasis caused by a person’s genes or other factors, such as stress, gut health, water quality, or change in the weather / temperature?
- Is a person with psoriasis more likely to develop other health conditions (either as a consequence of psoriasis or due to the effect of treatments for psoriasis)? If so, which ones?
- What’s the best way to treat sudden flare ups of psoriasis?
The following questions were also discussed and put in order of priority at the workshop:
- Are oral and biological treatments for psoriasis safe to use for people with psoriasis or their partner if they are trying to have a baby, and are they safe to use during pregnancy?
- What are the long-term benefits and risks of oral and biological psoriasis treatments?
- Are lifestyle factors such as diet, alcohol intake, weight change and smoking involved in causing psoriasis?
- Can oral and biological treatments for psoriasis be combined safely and does combining them work well?
- Could gene therapy help to treat psoriasis?
- How does psoriasis affect a person psychologically?
- What factors affect how psoriasis will progress, or whether it will go into remission?
- How do changes in female hormones, such as during puberty, pregnancy, miscarriage, menopause and contraceptive use, affect psoriasis and its treatment?
- What is the best and most cost-effective way of monitoring an oral or biological therapy for psoriasis e.g. clinical review, blood tests and measurement of medicine/antibodies levels?
- What triggers a sudden flare up of psoriasis and how long do these usually last?
Document downloads
For full details of all of the questions identified by this PSP, please see the document below.