Quality of life and comorbidities in palmoplantar pustulosis – a cross‐sectional study on 102 patients

Abstract Background Association of palmoplantar pustulosis ( PPP ) with metabolic and autoimmune diseases has been reported in mostly small case series or anecdotal cases. Objective To assess health‐related quality of life and prevalence of comorbidities in a large cohort of PPP patients. Methods We conducted a cross‐sectional study on patients with either active or past PPP . Disease severity was measured by the Palmoplantar Pustulosis Area and Severity Index (pp PASI ). Quality of life was assessed by the Dermatology Life Quality Index ( DLQI ). Comorbidities were evaluated by medical history, blood examination, stool testing for Helicobacter pylori antigen and screening tools for depression and psoriatic arthritis. Results A total of 102 patients (87 women, 15 men) with a mean age of 52.6 ± 14.1 years were evaluated. The mean DLQI was 7 ± 6. Comorbidities were frequent and consisted of hypercholesterolaemia (38%), hypertension (32%), obesity (27%), metabolic syndrome (26%), depression (24%), diabetes (19%), autoimmune thyroiditis (16%) and psoriatic arthritis (16%). Conclusion Patients with PPP have an impaired quality of life and a broad range of comorbidities. Contrary to other reports, our investigation failed to show an association between PPP and coeliac disease or H. pylori infection.