In the fall of 2020, the Canadian Association of Psoriasis Patients conducted a survey about the impacts of COVID-19 on the psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis community, in collaboration with the Canadian Psoriasis Network and an awareness group in Saskatchewan, Unmasking Psoriasis. The support from our community was incredible, with over 800 responses to the survey. We also held two virtual discussion groups to dive deeper into some of the themes that we uncovered from the survey:

• It is difficult to access dermatological care from a specialist across Canada
• There are many barriers to accessing treatment
• There is still much we do not yet understand about psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis

This infographic sets out the highlights of our survey results, including the fact that these diseases impact multiple aspects of people's lives. Many people experienced changes to their treatment plans since the onset of the pandemic. Most had a virtual visit with their healthcare provider during the pandemic, but there is a lot of room for improvement.  Nearly half of survey respondents indicated that their mental health has worsened during the pandemic. 

There are many areas where the federal government can better support people living with psoriatic disease. We are actively sharing this information with federal Members of Parliament in recognition of World Psoriasis Day. If you need support or would like to get involved, please let us know at info@canadianpsoriasis.ca!

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