Psoriasis Independently Linked to Increased Mortality Risk

Psoriasis is significantly associated with an increased mortality risk, according to a study published online in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Yevgeniy R. Semenov, M.D., from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and colleagues examined the independent correlation between psoriasis and all-cause mortality in a retrospective cohort study of 13,031 adults and adolescents >10 years who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (2003 to 2006 and 2009 to 2010).

The researchers identified psoriasis in 2.7 percent of the study population. After adjustment for demographics, smoking, and comorbidities, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cancer, chronic kidney disease, and stroke, psoriasis was significantly associated with an increased mortality risk during an average of 52.3 months of median follow-up (hazard ratio, 1.99). Overall, 15.5, 5.9, 8.7, 11.7, 4.2, and 4.7 percent, respectively, of the association between psoriasis and mortality was mediated by these comorbidities.

"These results call for an increased awareness of the mortality burden in psoriasis and more intensive monitoring of psoriasis patients, particularly those on systemic therapies," the authors write. "As a significant portion of the mortality burden in psoriasis remains unexplained by known risk factors, future studies should explore whether pathophysiologic mechanisms in psoriasis are independently tied to mortality."

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