Effectiveness of interdisciplinary vs. dermatological care of moderate-to-severe psoriasis: a pragmatic randomised controlled trial.

Psychiatric morbidity is frequent in patients with psoriasis. We compared the effectiveness of dermatologicalvs. interdisciplinary dermatologicaland psychiatric care for psoriasis. Adults with moderate-to-severe psoriasiswere randomly allocated to dermatological(n = 24) or interdisciplinary care (n = 23) and treated accordingly. Primary endpoint was the mean change in Dermatology Life Quality Index(DLQI) at 6 months. Data was analysed by intention-to-treat. Mean ± SD change in DLQI was 7.5 ± 7.3 and 10.5 ± 9.9 after 6 months of dermatologicaland interdisciplinary care, respectively (p = 0.27). At baseline, 10 patients in the interdisciplinary treatment group (43%) had at least one psychiatric disorder. These patients showed significantly better DLQI response (DLQI change 14.8 ± 9.7) than patients receiving dermatologicalcare only (p = 0.03). Ninety percent of psoriasispatients with DLQI scores exceeding psoriasis areaand severity index(PASI) scores had comorbid psychiatric disease. Although psychiatric co-treatment is not generally required for patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis, those patients with higher DLQI scores than PASI sco