Psoriasis in Korean

Youn, Jai Il

Abstract

Psoriasis is a chronic cutaneous disease with papules and plaques with white scales on them. Psoriasis is a common skin disease throughout the world. When compared with Caucasian, prevalence rate is lower in Korean, however it has been increasing noticeably. We reported epidemiology, clinical features and HLA typing of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis from patients who have been enrolled in Seoul National University Hospital psoriasis clinic during 30 years from 1982 to 2012. Peak age of onset in male was in their twenties, while it was in their teens in female patients. Age of onset in 4,526 patients was as follows: 20~29 (31.3%), 10~19 (25.9%), 30~39 (16.6%), 40~49 (10.6%), 0~9 (6.3%), 50~59 (5.7%), 60~69 (2.8%) and over 70 (0.8%). We confirmed that Korean patients also have a bimodal onset of disease. The early onset type showed more extensive body surface area as well as increased family history as in Caucasians. Most common clinical type was the plaque form (84.6%). Fifty three (10.5%) of the 504 psoriasis patients were demonstrated to have psoriatic arthritis (PA). The mean age of onset of PA was 38.8+/-14.5. Spondylitis was found in 43.4%. Psoriasis preceded PA in 73.6% of total patients with the mean interval of 12.2 years. HLA-CW*0602 showed the strongest association (76.1%) with psoriasis in Korean patients.