Health Outcomes and PharmacoEconomics (HOPE) Research Centre, Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Medicine, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, ON M4N 3M5, Canada.
Psoriasis impacts many different areas of a patient's life, including work productivity. There is no information regarding lost productivity owing to psoriasis in a Canadian population.
The objective of this study was to determine the lost productivity of Canadian patients with moderate to severe psoriasis.
Seventy-nine consecutive Canadian dermatology patients were interviewed and completed the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment Questionnaire (WPAIQ).
On average, 2.2 hours (+/- 5.6 hours) were lost from work per week owing to psoriasis-related events. Absence from work may result in lost mean patient wages of C$2,270.84 per person per year. Total lost wages owing to moderate to severe psoriasis may cost up to approximately $749 million for all moderate to severe psoriasis patients in Canada.
The results from our study indicate that moderate to severe psoriasis may have a substantial impact on the work productivity of patients with this disease.