A study of nearly eight million individuals has strengthened the link between psoriasis and inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) such as Crohn’s disease.
Based on the study results, researchers are advising that psoriasis patients with bowel symptoms be referred for gastroenterology consultation.
The study, published online by JAMA Dermatology (Oct. 24, 2018), aimed to examine the relationship between psoriasis and IBD. Researchers in the Department of Dermatology and the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Linkou, Taiwan and the College of Medicine at Chang Gun University in Taoyuan, Taiwan, included five case-control or cross-sectional, and four cohort studies that have looked into the odds or risk that IBD patients would also have psoriasis. In studying the 7,794,087 patients included, significant associations were found between psoriasis and Crohn's disease as well as psoriasis and ulcerative colitis, finding that psoriasis patients had approximately twice the risk or probability of having Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis.
Researchers concluded that the risk and odds of IBD, Crohn's
disease, and ulcerative colitis in patients with psoriasis.
Photo by Jacopo188 via Wikimedia Commons.
This link has been explored in a number of other studies, including a 2016 study that investigated comorbidity in psoriatic arthritis patients. That study, published in Clinical Rheumatology (Nov. 2016; 35(11):2679–2684), found that psoriatic arthritis patients were also prone to be diagnosed with cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and obesity, as well as gastrointestinal (GI) diseases. Researchers of this study of 31,610 randomly selected patients also suggested that physicians treating patients with psoriatic arthritis be cognizant of the disease’s association with GI disorders.
In the conclusion of the latest study published in JAMA Dermatology, researchers take that suggestion one step further, recommending that physicians treating psoriasis patients who also have symptoms of IBD be referred to a gastroenterologist for further consultation.