Healthcare Utilization and Medication Use in Patients with Psoriasis: A Population-Based Study.

BACKGROUND

Healthcare utilization in patients with psoriasis has been described from the perspective of psoriasis healthcare centers. Psoriasis healthcare utilization at the population level, including appointments with family physicians, impacts the overall financial expenditure.

OBJECTIVES

To describe the utilization of healthcare services in patients with psoriasis compared to the general non-psoriasis population.

METHODS

We conducted a cross-sectional, population-based analysis of data from Clalit Health Services, the largest public health service provider in Israel, comparing the annual healthcare utilization and medication consumption of all Clalit members with psoriasis in 2023 with an age- and sex-matched group at a primary care clinic. We compared up to five non-psoriasis items.

RESULTS

The study included 835,422 people (140,927 individuals with psoriasis and 694,671 without). Patients with psoriasis had more annual physician appointments than controls, and the meetings were longer. Patients with psoriasis took more sick leave and required more hospital admission compared to the control group. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors were prescribed much more often to patients with psoriasis than to the control group (3147 patients vs. 1857 in the matched control). More IL-17 blockers and IL-23 blockers were also prescribed more in the psoriasis group, although at a much lower level than the TNF inhibitors.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with psoriasis used more healthcare services than the control group. Healthcare providers should allocate more resources to psoriasis care, both for primary care and at specialized psoriasis centers.