Association between psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis

Abstract

Introduction & Objectives: Psoriasis is a common, persistent, relapsing inflammatory skin disease that affects approximately 1.5-2% of the population. In more than 90% of cases the disease is chronic. Psoriatic arthritis is one of the most common complications of psoriasis, which often results in significant functional impairment and reduced quality of life. The study was aimed to identify the association between psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis in a cohort of psoriasis patients. Material & Methods: We retrospectively analyzed medical records of 262 patients (114 females, 148 males) treated at the Department of Skin and Venereal Diseases, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences from 2008 to 2009 years. The data about sociodemographic characteristics, the history of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis were collected. The patients were divided into two gruops: group I (type I psoriasis) – disease started below 40 years old, group II (type II psoriasis) – disease started over 40 years old. Results: The mean age of patients was 50.47 years (range from 44 to 78 years; 95% CI 56.65- 62.88). 211 (80.5%) patients have had plaque psoriasis, 30 (11, 5%) – psoriasis guttata, 4 (1.5%) – generalized pustular psoriasis, 15 (5.7%) – palmo-plantar pustular psoriasis and 2 (0.8%) patients had psoriatic erythroderma. The family history of psoriasis had 109 (41.6%) patients: in group I – 94 (48.2%), in group II – 15 (22.39%). Statistically significantly patients of group I more often than patients of group II have had family history of psoriasis (OR 3.504, 95% CI 1.422 to 8.636, p=0.006). Among patients of group I psoriatic arthritis was identified in 70 (35.9%) cases, and among patients of group I – in 10 (14.9%) cases. Statistically significantly patients of group I have had a higher incidence of psoriatic arthritis comparing with patients of group II (OR 4.457, 95% CI 1.999 to 9.937, p=0.0001). Conclusio... [...].