Psoriasis in Latin America and the Caribbean: a systematic review

Abstract

Background

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease that generally affects the skin, nails and joints. The burden of psoriatic disease in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) remains largely unknown.

Objective

To estimate the burden of psoriasis in LAC.

Methods

We conducted a systematic review following the MOOSE and PRISMA statements. We searched published studies in MEDLINE, EMBASE, LILACS, and CENTRAL from January 1, 2000 to August 5, 2015. We included studies that reported incidence, prevalence, health resource use and health expenditures, treatment patterns, comparative effectiveness of different drugs, patients reported outcomes, adherence to treatment and patient preferences in LAC. Risk of bias was assessed evaluating selection of participants, control of cofounders, measurement of exposure and outcome and conflict of interest. Pairs of reviewers independently selected, extracted and assessed the bias risk of the studies. The systematic review was registered at PROSPERO (CRD42016038325).

Results

A total of 18 studies from 12 LAC countries were included. Most were observational studies, between which there was a large heterogeneity of outcomes. Population-based studies were not found and most data came from hospital registries. One study reported an incidence of psoriatic arthritis in 6.26 cases per 100,000 person-years. Another study found an incidence of psoriasis 1,020 per 100,000 patient-year attending at a dermatology clinic. The prevalence reported in the Argentinean health service was 74 cases per 100,000. Further, psoriasis has been shown to have a substantial negative impact on quality of life. A number of studies also indicated that non-communicable disease burden increases with the presence and severity of psoriasis. With regard to treatment pattern, methotrexate was the dominant systemic therapy.

Conclusion

There is an important lack of information from LAC concerning the burden of psoriasis. Further studies investigating the burden of psoriasis in representative LAC populations are needed.

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