Comparison of Treatment Goals for Moderate-to-Severe Psoriasis between Korean Dermatologists and the European Consensus Report

BACKGROUND: The development of therapies for psoriasis has led to the need for a new strategy to the treatment of patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis. New consensus guidelines for psoriasis treatment have been developed in some countries, some of which have introduced treatment goals to determine the timing of therapeutic regimens for psoriasis. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the opinions held by Korean dermatologists who specialize in psoriasis about treatment goals, and to compare these with the European consensus. METHODS: Korean dermatologists who specialize in psoriasis were asked 11 questions about defining the treatment goals for psoriasis. The questionnaire included questions about the factors used to classify the severity of psoriasis, defining the induction and maintenance phases of psoriasis treatment, defining treatment responses during the induction phase, and defining treatment responses during the maintenance phase. RESULTS: The Korean consensus showed responses that were almost similar to the European consensus, even without using the Delphi technique, which uses repeated rounds of questions to reach a consensus. Only one response that related to psoriasis severity in the context of the quality of patients' lives differed from the European consensus. CONCLUSION: The concept of using treatment goals in the treatment of moderate-to-severe psoriasis can be applied to Korean psoriasis patients. Since a tool for assessing the quality of patients' lives is not commonly used in Korea, the development of a simple, rapidly completed, and region-specific health-related quality of life assessment tool would enable treatment goals to be used in routine clinical practice.