Coeliac disease associated with psoriasis.

BACKGROUND

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the skin reported to be associated with systemic comorbidities.

OBJECTIVES

To investigate the association between psoriasis and coeliac disease (CD).

METHODS

Patients with psoriasis were compared with age- and sex-matched controls regarding the prevalence of CD in a case-control study. chi(2) and t-tests were used for univariate analysis and a logistic regression model was used for multivariate analysis. The study was performed utilizing the medical database of Clalit Health Services.

RESULTS

The study included 12,502 patients with psoriasis aged > 20 years and 24,285 age- and sex-matched controls. The prevalence of CD in patients with psoriasis was increased compared with the prevalence in controls (0.29% and 0.11%, respectively, P < 0.001). In a multivariate analysis psoriasis was associated with CD (odds ratio 2.73, 95% confidence interval 1.65-4.53).

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with psoriasis have a greater prevalence of CD than matched controls. Recent studies showed a possibility of undiagnosed CD among patients with psoriasis. Therefore, physicians treating patients with psoriasis should be aware of this possible association.