Support Needed for Psoriasis Patients' Poor-Quality Sleep
Patients with psoriasis have significantly more difficulty sleeping, particularly in new environments, than matched individuals without the condition. Problems sleeping also rose in conjunction with disease severity.
METHODOLOGY:
Researchers enrolled 12 patients diagnosed with psoriasis and 12 control subjects matched for age, sex, and BMI to undergo 3 nights of sleep-lab analysis. People with obstructive sleep apnea were excluded from the study.
Patients completed disease questionnaires to assess severity and other disease characteristics and underwent blood draws to look for inflammatory markers.
TAKEAWAY:
Multivariate analyses showed that on the first, or adaptation, night of of the 3-night sleep lab study, patients with psoriasis spent significantly less time asleep while in bed (76% vs 89%), had significantly less total sleep time (363 vs 421 minutes), and experienced significantly more nighttime awakening (89 vs 40 minutes) than matched controls (P < .05 for all), indicating poorer adaptability and greater sensitivity to disruption.
Patients with more severe psoriasis also saw less time asleep while in bed, lower total sleep time, longer time until REM sleep, and lower percentage of time spent in REM sleep during the study.
Overall, across the 3 nights of the study, patients with psoriasis slept nearly an hour less each night than healthy controls, a finding that did not reach statistical significance (P = .13). The difference persisted after adjusting for itch, anxiety, and depression, all factors that can influence sleep quality.
IN PRACTICE:
'We don't have the time to tackle all the different comorbidities in patients [with psoriasis] and talk about every symptom that they are having,' said study author Tina Bhutani, MD, dermatologist with the University of California, San Francisco, and in private practice. 'But what we can quickly ask is if they are having trouble sleeping, or if they wake up multiple times during the night or whether they feel rested in the morning. That way we can provide them with resources where they can get more support.'
SOURCE:
Bhutani and her colleagues conducted the research, which Bhutani presented by video conference at the Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis (GRAPPA) 2025 Annual Meeting and Training Symposium in Bogotá, Colombia.
LIMITATIONS:
The small sample size meant that some results of interest did not reach statistical significance.
DISCLOSURES:
GRAPPA provided funding for the study. Bhutani disclosed having served as an advisor or speaker for or receiving research funding from, AbbVie, Amgen, Arcutis, Aslan, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Castle, CorEvitas, Dermavant, Eli Lilly, Galderma, Incyte, Janssen, LEO Pharma, Novartis, Ortho, Pfizer, Regeneron, Sanofi, Sun Pharma, and UCB.
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