Links Found Among Psoriasis, Type 2 Diabetes And Obesity

There is a common genetic link between psoriasis, type 2 diabetes, and obesity, discover scientists.

Being a chronic, inflammatory skin disease described as an autoimmune disease by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), psoriasis leads to the rapid growth of skin cells. The disease affects two to three percent of the white population. It is linked with obesity and diabetes.

A patient afflicted by the disease exhibits thick, red skin with silvery scales, leading to pain or itching.

Ann Lonnberg of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark and her team used information from 33,588 Danish twins who were between 20 to 71 years. Scientists examined the links between psoriasis and type 2 diabetes and obesity.

The team found that 4.2 percent of the team members, ie 630 men, and 771 women got psoriasis. About 1.4 percent, ie 235 women and 224 men had diabetes.

Answering  a questionnaire about psoriasis that was compared to type 2 diabetes diagnosis and body mass index (BMI), experts found that psoriasis affected about 7.6 percent of the members with diabetes. Yet only 4.1 percent of the members did not have the illness.

Patients with psoriasis exhibited an average BMI of 25, which worked out to be higher on average than those who did not have the disease. (24.4).

Studying 720 sets of twins with type 2 diabetes was also revealing. Scientists found that just one twin might suffer from psoriasis. This twin also displayed higher BMI and a greater probability of obesity compared to the twin with no psoriasis.

Scientists observed that psoriasis and obesity originate from the same genetic cause. However, one condition does not necessarily lead to the other.

"Psoriasis, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and obesity are strongly associated in adults after taking key confounding factors such as sex, age and smoking into account," the authors conclude. "Results indicate a common genetic etiology of psoriasis and obesity. Conducting future studies on specific genes and epigenetic factors that cause this association is relevant."

The findings were published on April 27, 2016 issue of the journal JAMA Dermatology.