Work Stress and Impact of Pruritus on Quality of Life

Background. Stress increases the likelihood of psoriasis flare-up episodes and itching. Few studies have focused on work-related stress on such skin symptoms. Objective. To study the association between work-related stress, pruritus and quality of life among workers suffering from psoriasis. Methods. Investigators will conduct a monocentric non-interventional prospective study. Patients suffering from psoriasis will be recruited in both the Dermatology inpatient ward and outpatient clinic of Brest University Hospital . Included patients will be workers. Work-related stress will be assessed using the Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) model. The impact of pruritus on quality of life will be assessed with the Itchy Quality of Life (ItchyQoL) self-administered questionnaire. The collected data will include age, sex, body mass index, ordered medication to treat psoriasis, weekly working hours. The association between ERI and ItchyQoL scores will be studied using a univariate logistic regression.