Sense of Coherence among Psoriatics as a Predictor of Symptom-Free Time Following Dermatological Inpatient Therapy

Objective: In the present study, we investigated the health-protective resources of psoriatics, operationalized via their sense of coherence. Our objective was to determine whether the strength of these resources has an influence on the duration until relapse. Patients and Methods: 72 patients were examined three times (before, immediately after, and 15–18 months after treatment). Along with the Psoriasis Area Severity Index score and determination of the subjective estimation of severity, patients were asked to answer questionnaires relating to how they were dealing with their illness as well as to lifequality, sense of coherence (SOC), and critical life events. Results: Personal estimation of severity of condition and PASI values at the commencement of therapy highly correlated. At follow-up after balneophototherapy, subjective severity of condition had almost returned to the initial value. 76.7% of the patients experienced relapse within the first 6 months following therapy. The level of the score for manageability correlates with the length of time until the first relapse. Patients with low SOC suffered their first relapse 3.5 months after therapy, while patients with high SOC underwent first relapse after 10 months on average. Conclusion: The data suggest that the SOC could play a protective role in respect of the tendency towards relapse among psoriatics.