Inpatient hospital care for psoriasis: a vanishing practice in the United States.

Abstract

Inpatient hospital care was a traditional approach to treat severe psoriasis. Since 1980, only modest innovations in psoriasis therapy have been introduced, but regulation and financing of inpatient hospital care have changed greatly. We documented changes in the use of inpatient care in acute care hospitals for psoriasis in a cohort of individuals with severe psoriasis and nationally. Using interviews, we quantified hospitalizations for psoriasis and other reasons among the PUVA Follow-up Study cohort. We used National Hospital Discharge Survey data to determine national trends in hospitalization rates. In 2 decades, national rates of hospitalization primarily for psoriasis decreased more than 80%. Among our cohort of persons with severe psoriasis, the age-adjusted rate of hospital days for psoriasis decreased more than 60% during this period. Currently, hospitalization in acute care hospitals is seldom used to care for persons with psoriasis.