Quality of Life and Physical Activity in 629 Individuals With Sarcoidosis: Prospective, Cross-sectional Study Using Smartphones (Sarcoidosis App).

BACKGROUND: Large gaps exist in understanding the symptomatic and functional impact of sarcoidosis, a rare multisystem granulomatous disease affecting fewer than 200,000 individuals in the United States. Smartphones could be used for prospective research, especially for rare diseases where organizing large cohorts can be challenging, given their near ubiquitous ownership and ability to track objective and subjective data with increasingly sophisticated technology. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate whether smartphones could assess the quality of life (QoL) and physical activity of a large cohort of individuals with sarcoidosis. METHODS: We developed a mobile app (Sarcoidosis App) for a prospective, cross-sectional study on individuals with sarcoidosis. The Sarcoidosis App was made available on both Apple and Android smartphones. Individuals with sarcoidosis were recruited, consented, and enrolled entirely within the app. Surveys on sarcoidosis history, medical history, and medications were administered. Patients completed modules from the Sarcoidosis Assessment Tool, a validated patient-reported outcomes assessment of physical activity, fatigue, pain, skin symptoms, sleep, and lungs symptoms. Physical activity measured by smartphones was tracked as available. RESULTS: From April 2018 to May 2020, the App was downloaded 2558 times, and 629 individuals enrolled (404, 64.2% female; mean age 51 years; 513, 81.6% White; 86, 13.7% Black). Two-thirds of participants had a college or graduate degree, and more than half of them reported an income greater than US $60,000. Both QoL related to physical activity (P<.001, ρ=0.250) and fatigue (P<.01, ρ=-0.203) correlated with actual smartphone-tracked physical activity. Overall, 19.0% (98/517) of participants missed at least 1 week of school or work in an observed month owing to sarcoidosis, and 44.4% (279/629) reported that finances "greatly" or "severely" affected by sarcoidosis. Furthermore, 71.2% (437/614) of participants reported taking medications for sarcoidosis, with the most common being prednisone, methotrexate, hydroxychloroquine, and infliximab. Moreover, 46.4% (244/526) reported medication side effects, most commonly due to prednisone. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate that smartphones can prospectively recruit, consent, and study physical activity, QoL, and medication usage in a large sarcoidosis cohort, using both passively collected objective data and qualitative surveys that did not require any in-person encounters. Our study's limitations include the study population being weighted toward more educated and wealthier individuals, suggesting that recruitment was not representative of the full spectrum of patients with sarcoidosis in the United States. Our study provides a model for future smartphone-enabled clinical research for rare diseases and highlights key technical challenges that future research teams interested in smartphone-based research for rare diseases should anticipate.

Interdisciplinary Management of Extramammary Paget's Disease Using Mohs Micrographic Surgery With Frozen Section Cytokeratin-7 Immunostains.

OBJECTIVE: To describe local recurrence rates and patient-reported outcomes when Mohs micrographic surgery with cytokeratin-7 immunostains (MMS-CK7) is included in the interdisciplinary management of extramammary Paget's disease (EMPD) METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted of EMPD treated with MMS-CK7 as part of an interdisciplinary team at an academic medical center between 2009 and 2016. Local recurrence rates and patient-reported outcomes were determined by record review and patient surveys. RESULTS: Twenty tumors in 19 patients were treated using MMS-CK7. After MMS-CK7 defined clear microscopic margins, 75% (15/20) of tumors underwent excision or reconstruction by a surgical colleague. Internal malignancy screening was performed by multiple specialties in 17 patients, with 1 associated malignancy of prostate cancer detected. No local recurrence was detected with a mean follow-up of 75.2 months. Most patients were satisfied with appearance (18/19, 95%) and function (16/19, 84%) after surgery. CONCLUSION: Interdisciplinary teams that include MMS-CK7 can treat EMPD with low local recurrence rates, high patient satisfaction, and thorough internal malignancy screening.

Evaluation of a Case Series of Patients With Generalized Pustular Psoriasis in the United States.

IMPORTANCE: Generalized pustular psoriasis (GPP) is a chronic, orphan disease with limited epidemiological data. OBJECTIVE: To describe the clinical characteristics, treatments, longitudinal disease course, and disease-specific health care utilization among patients with GPP across the United States. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A retrospective longitudinal case series involving 95 adults who met the European Rare and Severe Psoriasis Expert Network consensus definition for GPP and were treated at 20 US academic dermatology practices between January 1, 2007, and December 31, 2018. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary outcome is to describe the patient characteristics, associated medical comorbidities, treatment patterns complications, and GPP-specific health care utilization. RESULTS: Sixty-seven of 95 patients (70.5%) were women (mean age, 50.3 years [SD, 16.1 years]). In the initial encounter, 35 patients (36.8%) were hospitalized and 64 (67.4%) were treated with systemic therapies. In total, more than 20 different systemic therapies were tried. During the follow-up period, 19 patients (35.8%) reported hospitalizations at a median rate of 0.5 hospitalizations per year (IQR, 0.4-1.6). Women had a decreased risk of an emergency department or hospital encounter (odds ratio, 0.19; 95% CI, 0.04-0.83). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Generalized pustular psoriasis is a rare, chronic disease without standard treatment and is associated with continued health care utilization over time.

Evaluation of a Case Series of Patients With Palmoplantar Pustulosis in the United States.

IMPORTANCE: Palmoplantar pustulosis (PPP) is a is a chronic, orphan disease with limited epidemiological data. OBJECTIVE: To describe the clinical characteristics, treatments, longitudinal disease course, and health care utilization in adults with PPP across the US. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This retrospective, longitudinal case series from 20 academic dermatology practices in the US included a consecutive sample of 197 adults who met the European Rare and Severe Psoriasis Expert Network consensus definition for PPP between January 1, 2007, and December 31, 2018. Data analysis was performed June 2020 to December 2020. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary outcome was to describe the patient characteristics, associated medical comorbidities, treatment patterns, complications, and PPP-specific health care utilization. RESULTS: Of 197 patients, 145 (73.6%) were female, and the mean (SD) age at presentation was 53.0 (12.6) years, with a mean (SD) follow-up time of 22.1 (28.0) months. On initial presentation, 95 (48.2%) patients reported skin pain, and 39 (19.8%) reported difficulty using hands and/or feet. Seventy patients (35.5%) were treated with systemic treatments, and use of more than 20 different systemic therapies was reported. In patients with at least 6 months of follow-up (n = 128), a median (IQR) of 3.7 (4-10) dermatology visits per year were reported; 24 (18.8%) patients had 5 or more visits during the study period. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this case series, PPP was associated with persistent symptoms, continued health care utilization, and a lack of consensus regarding effective treatments, emphasizing the unmet medical need in this population. Additional research is necessary to understand treatment response in these patients.

Systematic review and meta-analysis of local recurrence rates of head and neck cutaneous melanomas after wide local excision, Mohs micrographic surgery, or staged excision.

BACKGROUND: Prospective trials have not compared the local recurrence rates of different excision techniques for cutaneous melanomas on the head and neck. OBJECTIVE: To determine local recurrence rates of cutaneous head and neck melanoma after wide local excision (WLE), Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS), or staged excision. METHODS: A systematic review of PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science identified all English case series, cohort studies, and randomized controlled trials that reported local recurrence rates after surgery for cutaneous head and neck melanoma. A meta-analysis utilizing a random effects model calculated weighted local recurrence rates and confidence intervals (CI) for each surgical technique and for subgroups of MMS and staged excision. RESULTS: Among 100 manuscripts with 13,998 head and neck cutaneous melanomas, 51.0% (7138) of melanomas were treated by WLE, 34.5% (4826) by MMS, and 14.5% (2034) by staged excision. Local recurrence rates were lowest for MMS (0.61%; 95% CI, 0.1%-1.4%), followed by staged excision (1.8%; 95% CI, 1.0%-2.9%) and WLE (7.8%; 95% CI, 6.4%-9.3%). LIMITATIONS: Definitions of local recurrence varied. Surgical techniques included varying proportions of invasive melanomas. Studies had heterogeneity. CONCLUSION: Systematic review and meta-analysis show lower local recurrence rates for cutaneous head and neck melanoma after treatment with MMS or staged excision compared to WLE.

A comparison of physical function instruments in psoriatic arthritis: HAQ-DI vs MDHAQ vs PROMIS10 global physical health.

OBJECTIVES: Physical function is a core outcome in PsA. We examined the construct validity and responsiveness of three commonly used instruments to assess physical function in PsA: HAQ disability index (HAQ-DI), MultiDimensional HAQ (MDHAQ) and the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS®) Global-10. METHODS: Between 2016 and 2019, patients with PsA were enrolled in the Psoriatic Arthritis Research Consortium longitudinal cohort study in the USA. Correlations were calculated at baseline and among change scores using Spearman's correlation coefficient. Standardized response means were calculated. Agreement with the 20% improvement cut-off was used to determine the potential effect of using MDHAQ or the PROMIS Global-10 physical health (GPH) subscore in place of HAQ-DI when assessing the ACR20. RESULTS: A total of 274 patients were included in the analysis. The mean age of patients was 49 years and 51% were male. At baseline, the mean HAQ-DI was 0.6 (s.d. 0.6; range 0-3), the mean MDHAQ was 1.8 (s.d. 1.6; range 0-10) and the mean GPH T-score was 43.4 (s.d. 9.3; range 0-100). All three instruments were strongly correlated at baseline (rho 0.75-0.85). Change scores were moderately correlated (rho 0.42-0.71). Among therapy initiators, the mean change between two visits in HAQ-DI, MDHAQ and GPH was -0.1 (s.d. 0.4), -0.2 (s.d. 1.2) and 2.5 (s.d. 6.1), respectively. The standardized response means were 0.18, 0.16 and 0.41, respectively. CONCLUSION: The three instruments tested are not directly interchangeable but have overall similar levels of responsiveness.

Anticipated and Perceived Stigma Among Patients With Psoriasis.

BACKGROUND: Perceived stigma among patients with psoriasis (PWP) is associated with poorer quality of life. OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence and predictors of stigmatizing attitudes that PWP expect and experience from others. METHODS: We conducted a survey using validated outcome measures to assess the extent to which PWP anticipate and perceive stigma from others. Demographic and clinical characteristics were obtained from electronic medical records. RESULTS: Patients (n = 106) were 48.11% female, 70.75% white, and had a mean age ± SD of 47.90 ± 16.19 years old. Of all, 25.47% self-reported their psoriasis as severe. Mean physician global assessment score ± SD was 2.98 ± 1.81. Two-thirds (66.98%) of patients reported that, in response to seeing their psoriasis-affected skin, they anticipated others to stereotype them as "contagious." Linear regression analyses demonstrated that patient-reported severe psoriasis, compared to mild psoriasis, was associated with greater anticipation of negative stereotypes, social avoidance, and perceived stigma from others (P values < .05). Physician-measured body surface area and global assessment scores were not significantly associated with any outcome. CONCLUSION: Prevalence of anticipated and perceived stigma among PWP is high. Our results suggest that objective measures of severity may not identify patients at risk of stigma-related distress. Additional methods, such as directly inquiring about stigmatizing experiences, may be needed.

Measuring Outcomes in Psoriatic Arthritis: Comparing Routine Assessment of Patient Index Data and Psoriatic Arthritis Impact of Disease.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the construct validity of Routine Assessment of Patient Index Data 3 (RAPID3) and Psoriatic Arthritis Impact of Disease (PsAID) in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA). In examining construct validity, we also addressed scores among subgroups with severe psoriasis, poly articular disease, enthesitis, and dactylitis, and evaluated influences of sociodemographic factors and comorbidities (contextual factors) on these patient-reported outcomes (PRO). METHODS: Patients with PsA were enrolled in the Psoriatic Arthritis Research Consortium (PARC) between 2014 and 2016. PARC is a longitudinal observational cohort study conducted at 4 US institutions. In this cross-sectional study, construct validity was assessed by examining Spearman correlation coefficients for RAPID3 and PsAID with physician-reported disease activity measures and other PRO [e.g., Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-12 physical component summary/mental component summary (SF-12 PCS/MCS), Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue scale (FACIT-F)]. Contextual factors and disease subgroups were assessed in multivariable linear regression models with RAPID3 or PsAID12 as outcomes of interest and the hypothesized contextual factors as covariates. RESULTS: Among 401 patients enrolled in PARC, 347 completed RAPID3 or PsAID12. Of these, most were white females with a mean age of 51.7 years (SD 14.02). RAPID3 and PsAID were highly correlated (r = 0.90). These measures were also correlated with the SF-12 PCS (r = -0.67) and FACIT-F (r = -0.77). Important contextual factors and disease subgroups included enthesitis, joint counts, education, insurance type, and depression. CONCLUSION: RAPID3 and PsAID12 have excellent construct validity in PsA and are strongly correlated despite differing items. Contextual factors (i.e., the presence of depression and obesity) should be considered when interpreting raw scores of the RAPID3 and PsAID12.

Factors Influencing Sleep Difficulty and Sleep Quantity in the Citizen Pscientist Psoriatic Cohort.

INTRODUCTION: Sleep is essential for overall health and well-being, yet more than one-third of adults report inadequate sleep. The prevalence is higher among people with psoriasis, with up to 85.4% of the psoriatic population reporting sleep disruption. Poor sleep among psoriasis patients is particularly concerning because psoriasis is independently associated with many of the same comorbidities as sleep dysfunction, including cardiovascular disease, obesity, and depression. Given the high prevalence and serious consequences of disordered sleep in psoriasis, it is vital to understand the nature of sleep disturbance in this population. This study was designed to help meet this need by using survey data from Citizen Pscientist, an online patient portal developed by the National Psoriasis Foundation. METHODS: Our analysis included 3118 participants who identified as having a diagnosis by a physician of psoriasis alone or psoriasis with psoriatic arthritis. Demographic information, psoriasis severity and duration, sleep apnea status, smoking and alcohol consumption, itch timing, and sleep characteristics were included. Two separate multivariate logistic regression models in STATA were used to determine whether the presence of psoriatic arthritis, age, gender, body mass index, comorbid sleep apnea, psoriasis severity, timing of worst itch, smoking status, or high-risk alcohol consumption were associated with sleep difficulty or low sleep quantity, defined by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine as less than 7 h of sleep per night on average. RESULTS: Results from the multivariate logistic regressions found that sleep difficulty was associated with psoriatic arthritis (OR 2.15, 95% CI [1.79-2.58]), female gender (2.03 [1.67-2.46]), obese body mass index (BMI ≥ 30) (1.25 [1.00-1.56]), sleep apnea (1.41 [1.07-1.86]), psoriasis severity of moderate (1.59 [1.30-1.94]) or severe (2.40 [1.87-3.08]), and smoking (1.60 [1.26-2.02]). Low sleep quantity was associated with obese BMI (1.62 [1.29-2.03]), sleep apnea (1.30 [1.01-1.68]), psoriasis severity of moderate (1.41 [1.16-1.72]) or severe (1.40 [1.11-1.76]), and smoking (1.62 [1.31-2.00]). Sleep difficulty and low sleep quantity were not associated with age, alcohol consumption, or timing of worst itch. CONCLUSION: These results are potentially meaningful in several aspects. We identify an important distinction between sleep difficulty and sleep quantity in psoriatic disease, whereby having psoriatic arthritis and being female are each associated with sleep difficulty despite no association with low sleep quantity. Furthermore, there is conflicting evidence from prior studies as to whether psoriasis severity is associated with sleep difficulty, but this well-powered, large study revealed a strong, graded relationship between psoriasis severity and both sleep difficulty and low sleep quantity. Overall, our results show that both sleep difficulty and low sleep quantity were associated with multiple factors in this analysis of a large psoriatic cohort. These findings suggest that dermatologists may gather clinically useful information by screening psoriatic patients for trouble sleeping and low sleep quantity to identify potential comorbidities and to more effectively guide disease management.

Patient-reported outcomes of adalimumab, phototherapy, and placebo in the Vascular Inflammation in Psoriasis Trial: A randomized controlled study.

BACKGROUND: There are limited data about the impact of narrowband ultraviolet B phototherapy on patient-reported measures of health-related quality of life. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of adalimumab and phototherapy on health-related quality of life. METHODS: We examined patient-reported outcomes from a multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled trial (ClinicalTrials.gov no. NCT01553058). The Dermatology Life Quality Index and EQ-5D-3L were evaluated every 4 weeks. RESULTS: We enrolled 97 patients: 30.9% were female, mean age was 43.5 years (standard deviation, 14.0), and median Psoriasis Area and Severity Index score was 16.7 (interquartile range, 13.9-21.6). At week 12, patients being treated with adalimumab (odds ratio [OR], 2.88; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02-8.17) and phototherapy (OR, 8.83; 95% CI, 2.47-31.57) were more likely to achieve the minimal clinically important difference in the Dermatology Life Quality Index compared with those receiving placebo. There were higher odds of achieving the minimal clinically important difference for the EQ-5D-3L Index score when comparing phototherapy versus placebo (OR, 9.78; 95% CI, 2.99-31.95) and phototherapy versus adalimumab (OR, 4.07; 95% CI, 1.42-11.70). LIMITATIONS: Small sample size, secondary analysis, generalizability. CONCLUSION: Phototherapy and adalimumab both improve skin-related quality of life and overall health-related quality of life compared with placebo in patients with psoriasis; however, patients treated with phototherapy achieved more improvement in overall health-related quality of life compared with patients treated with adalimumab.

Lack of association of biologic therapy for psoriasis with psychiatric illness: An electronic medical records cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Psoriasis and biologic therapies have been associated with psychiatric illnesses. OBJECTIVE: To determine if persons with psoriasis or those exposed to biologics are more likely to develop a psychiatric illness. METHODS: Retrospective electronic medical records cohort study. RESULTS: Individuals with psoriasis were significantly more likely to have a history of several medical (eg, cardiovascular illnesses) and psychiatric (eg, depression, suicide) illnesses than those without psoriasis. Those with psoriasis who were prescribed a biologic therapy were significantly less likely than those with psoriasis not prescribed a biologic agent to receive a psychiatric illness diagnosis (hazard ratio for any psychiatric illness 0.52, 95% confidence interval 0.51-0.53, P < .0001). With respect to any psychiatric illness, this finding was confirmed when comparing biologic therapy versus methotrexate treatment (0.80, 95% confidence interval 0.76-0.84, P < .0001). LIMITATIONS: These findings were likely attributable to treatment selection bias. CONCLUSION: Individuals with psoriasis have an increased risk of several medical and psychiatric illnesses. Individuals with psoriasis prescribed biologic agents are less likely than those not prescribed biologic agents to develop psychiatric illnesses. Most likely because of treatment selection, individuals with psoriasis prescribed biologic therapy are not currently at increased risk of a psychiatric outcome.

Prevalence of clinically significant incidental findings by whole-body fludeoxyglucose F 18 positron emission tomography/computed tomography scanning in moderate-to-severe psoriasis patients participating in clinical trials.

BACKGROUND: There has been an increase in the number of psoriasis treatments being investigated in clinical trials. Patients may have undiagnosed issues at the start of a study which may become identified during follow-up as incident medicinal conditions. The prevalence of incidental findings in patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis presenting for clinical trials is unknown. OBJECTIVE: Determine the prevalence of incidentalomas and rate of malignancy identified by fludeoxyglucose F 18 (FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) imaging in clinical trial patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis. METHODS: A cross-sectional secondary analysis of patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis who underwent FDG PET/CT scans at the baseline visit, before randomization, for 3 phase 4 clinical trials on vascular inflammation in psoriasis. Only patients without active infection, malignancy, or uncontrolled comorbidities were eligible for the clinical trials. RESULTS: A total of 259 healthy patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis underwent an FDG PET/CT scan as part of the study procedures. In all, 31 patients (11.97%) (95% confidence interval [CI], 8.28-16.56) had clinically significant incidentalomas on the baseline FDG PET/CT scan. Univariate logistic regression demonstrated that with every increase of 10 years of age, there was an approximate 30% increased risk of discovery of an incidentaloma (odds ratio, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.01-1.68). Of those patients with findings suggestive of malignancy (n = 28), 6 were confirmed to have cancer, resulting in a 2.31% (95% CI, 0.9-5.0) prevalence of malignancy. The positive predictive value of a true cancer was 31.58% (range, 21%-54%). LIMITATIONS: Generalizability and lost to follow-up. CONCLUSION: Incidentalomas on FDG PET/CT imaging are common in otherwise healthy, asymptomatic patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis in clinical trials. Our results can help inform interpretation of clinical trial safety data and emphasize the importance of compliance with cancer screening recommendations.

Stigmatizing attitudes toward persons with psoriasis among laypersons and medical students.

BACKGROUND: Perceived stigma among patients with psoriasis contributes to poor quality of life. OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence and predictors of stigmatizing attitudes toward persons with psoriasis among laypersons and medical trainees. METHODS: Laypersons were recruited from Amazon.com's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) (n = 198). Additionally, 187 medical students were recruited via e-mail. Participants completed an online survey in which they viewed images of persons with visible psoriasis. Participants reported their desire to socially avoid the persons in the images, their emotional responses to the persons in the images, and their endorsement of psoriasis-related stereotypes and myths. RESULTS: MTurk participants endorsed social avoidance items such as not wanting to shake hands with (39.4%) or have the persons in the images in their home (32.3%). Participants stereotyped persons with psoriasis as contagious (27.3%) and endorsed the myth that psoriasis is not a serious disease (26.8%). Linear regression analyses showed that having heard of or knowing someone with psoriasis predicted fewer stigmatizing attitudes (P < .05). The medical students reported less stigmatizing attitudes than the MTurk participants (P < .01). LIMITATIONS: Self-report, single-institution study. CONCLUSION: Stigmatizing views of persons with psoriasis are prevalent among people in the United States. Educational campaigns for the public and medical trainees may reduce stigma toward persons with psoriasis.