Psoriasis Linked to Significantly Increased Alzheimer Risk

Incidence of Alzheimer disease (AD) is significantly higher in individuals with psoriasis than those without, according to the results of a recent study.

“Although the pathogenesis of AD is unclear, neuroinflammation appears to play a role in its development. Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that has recently been found to genetically overlap with AD.,” the researchers wrote.

They conducted a study of 535,927 patients with psoriasis who were matched 1:5 with controls without psoriasis based on age and sex from the Korean National Health Insurance System database. There were 50,209 cases of AD among controls and 11,311 cases among participants with psoriasis.

Overall, patients with psoriasis had significantly increased risk of AD (hazard ratio [HR] 1.09; 95% CI, 1.07–1.12, p < 0.0001) compared with controls. The risk was significantly increased in patients with psoriasis who were not receiving systemic therapy (HR 1.10; 95% CI, 1.08–1.12 vs. hazard ratio, 0.99; 95% CI: 0.90–1.09, p < 0.0001).

“In conclusion, we found a significantly increased risk of AD in Korean patients with psoriasis compared to a matched control group. These results indicate that chronic inflammatory conditions in psoriasis may have an important impact on the nervous system and thus in increasing the risk of developing AD. Further studies are needed to explore the potential causes of the increased risk of AD and whether these effects vary depending on the type of systemic treatment used in psoriasis,” they concluded.

—Michael Potts

Reference:
Kim M, Park HE, Lee S, et al. Increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease in patients with psoriasis: a nationwide population-based cohort study [published online April 15, 2020]. Scientific Reports. doi;10.1038/s41598-020-63550-2