Psoriasis is a serious, chronic, non-communicable autoimmune disease. It is a painful and stigmatising disease that affects not only the skin, but is also associated with many systemic comorbidities. The disease has a significant detrimental impact on quality of life and overall health. It is painful and can have major physical, mental and quality-of-life impacts on those affected by it. Yet, it is also an eminently treatable condition.
Despite this, psoriasis is beset by low levels of awareness and knowledge, both among the public and healthcare providers. This contributes to delayed diagnosis or misdiagnosis, undertreatment or complete lack thereof. Access to care is further impacted by regulatory, administrative, socioeconomic and geographic factors. Along with the many challenges that patients face in seeking treatment, available treatments are underutilised. Moreover, reliable data on the burden of psoriasis, and the effectiveness of treatments, are sparse.
Beyond skin-deep: tackling gaps in psoriasis care is an Economist Impact white paper, commissioned and supported by Bristol Myers Squibb. The report examines the challenges and opportunities across the psoriasis care pathway in eight countries spanning Europe, North America and Asia (the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, the United States, China and Japan), with a view to uncovering how health systems can better meet patients’ needs. In doing so, Economist Impact identifies four areas for immediate action:
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Address stigma, misdiagnosis and undertreatment by improving awareness and health literacy.
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Support the adoption of technology to improve equity of access to care and—hand-in-hand with screening—facilitate early diagnosis of comorbidities.
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Improve data collection, quality and use, especially in terms of disease burden and registries.
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Make care and research more patient-centric; support the use of multidisciplinary teams and shared decision-making.