Psoriasis in the eastern Saudi Arabia

OBJECTIVE: To determine the percentage occurrence, demographic and clinical features of psoriasis in adult patients at King Fahd Hospital of the University, Al-Khobar, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

METHODS: The medical records of all the adult patients with psoriasis were analyzed from January 1991 to December 1994 at the dermatology clinic, King Fahd Hospital of the University, Al-Khobar, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

RESULTS: A total of 263 adult psoriatic patients were studied with the percentage occurrence of 5.3%. There was a male preponderance with sex ratio of 1.4:1. The mean age of onset in males was 26.9 years while in females it was 22.3 years. Fifty-three percent of psoriatic cases developed before the age of 30 years. Family history of psoriasis was recorded in 8.4% of the cases. Itching was the only symptom reported by patients in 43% of cases. The sites of involvement were as follows: lower extremity 44.9%, scalp 41.8%, nail 26.6% and palmoplanter 12.6%. Plaque psoriasis was the most common clinical type (87.1%), followed by erythrodermic (4.2%), pustular (3%), guttate (1.9%), flexural, (2.3%) and follicular (0.4%).

CONCLUSION: The present study represents the apparent magnitude of psoriasis in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia, which may reflect that the disease is common in our area as elsewhere. The clinical features of psoriasis in our patients were similar to those reported from other parts of the world.