Low prevalence of patients diagnosed with psoriasis in Nuuk: a call for increased awareness of chronic skin disease in Greenland

Abstract

The objective of this study was to estimate the age- and gender-specific prevalence of psoriasis in Nuuk. Furthermore, we aimed to explore the common risk factors and comorbidities for patients with psoriasis compared to an age- and gender-matched control group. The study was designed as a cross- sectional case-control study based on national high-quality data from medical and population registers in Nuuk. A total of 175 patients (0.9%) were diagnosed with psoriasis in Nuuk by January 1 January 2022, of which 79 were females and 96 were males. The prevalence of patients diagnosed with psoriasis in the adult population aged 20 years old or more in Nuuk was 1.1%. No overall gender-specific difference in prevalence was observed. Chronic diseases including diabetes, hypertension, and obstructive lung disease were observed more frequently among patients with diagnosed psoriasis (28.6%) in Nuuk compared to controls (20.9%) ( p < 0.05 ). We found a low prevalence of patients with psoriasis in Nuuk. We speculate that the prevalence found in this study is underestimated and thus, call for increased awareness of chronic skin disease in Nuuk, Greenland. Chronic co-morbidity to psoriasis was common.

Patterns in contacts with primary health care centres in Greenland

“…The third most frequently used diagnostic group was “Skin”. Although Botvid et al recently found a low prevalence of the chronic skin disease psoriasis in Greenland [ 15 ], we believe psoriasis in Greenland is both underdiagnosed and undertreated. A previous study found that 13% of all consultations in PHC in Greenland was related to problems with the skin [ 2 ].…”

Skin health of community-living older people: a scoping review

“…The most often investigated skin condition was melanoma and/or non-melanoma skin cancer ( n = 34) [ 22 , 23 , 26 , 48 – 56 , 60 , 61 , 63 , 64 , 66 , 69 , 71 , 73 , 75 – 80 , 82 – 84 , 86 , 89 , 93 , 94 , 97 , 101 ], three studies did not specify ‘skin cancer’ [ 32 – 34 ]. Different types of ‘eczema’ (including atopic dermatitis) were included in eight studies [ 30 , 31 , 33 , 34 , 46 , 65 , 88 , 91 ], pressure injuries [ 45 , 68 , 81 , 85 , 90 , 99 ] and psoriasis [ 29 , 33 , 34 , 57 , 58 , 100 ] each in six studies, and xerosis/ichthyosis in five studies [ 24 , 25 , 27 , 45 , 47 , 95 ]. Other studies focused on vitiligo [ 33 , 34 , 47 , 62 ] and parasites [ 33 , 34 , 47 , 92 ], bullous pemphigoid [ 59 , 87 , 98 ], intertrigo [ 67 , 74 ...…”

Trends in cardiovascular disease among Inuit in Greenland from 1994 to 2021

“…As previously mentioned, the number of unregistered cases of AF/AFL is high, and revascularization rates among Greenlanders are comparable to those of Danes [ 18 , 36 ]. Furthermore, studies indicates that conditions such as osteoporosis and psoriasis are underdiagnosed in the population [ 54 , 55 ]. Hence, we highly suspect that underdiagnosis is prevalent in Greenland, and we expect that the rates found in this study somewhat underestimates the real incidences.…”