Patients with severe psoriasis appear to have an increased risk of death compared with patients without the skin condition, according to a report in the December issue of Archives of Dermatology.
Psoriasis is a common inflammatory disorder that affects the skin and joints, according to background information in the article. The condition has been associated with various other factors, including smoking, alcohol use and diseases such as obesity, cardiovascular disease and some cancers. “In addition, certain systemic therapies for psoriasis may rarely be associated with mortality [death] due to chronic cumulative drug toxicity or idiosyncratic reactions, and the disease itself may lead to death in rare instances,” the authors write.
Joel M. Gelfand, M.D., M.S.C.E., and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, analyzed records from a database of patients who visited general practitioners in the United Kingdom between 1987 and 2002. They identified 133,568 patients with mild psoriasis, defined as having a diagnosis of psoriasis but no history of treatment for the condition, and 3,951 patients with severe psoriasis, who did receive medications or other therapies. These patients were matched with up to five control patients who visited the same practice at around the same time but did not have psoriasis, including 560,358 matched to those with mild psoriasis and 15,075 matched to those with severe psoriasis.