Psoriatic disease ups risk for incident thyroid disorders

The risk of incident thyroid diseases, including hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, thyroiditis, Graves disease and Hashimoto thyroiditis, is increased in individuals with psoriatic disease, suggests a study, adding that endocrinology consultation may be considered when thyroid symptoms are present in psoriasis patients.

The study included 13,266 patients with psoriatic arthritis (psoriatic arthritis group), 149,576 with psoriasis alone (psoriasis group) and 162,842 nonpsoriatic controls.

Patients in the psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis groups had a higher risk of incident hyperthyroidism (psoriatic arthritis: adjusted hazards ratio [HR], 1.32; 95 percent CI, 1.07–1.65; psoriasis: adjusted HR, 1.22; 1.11–1.33) and Graves disease (psoriatic arthritis: adjusted HR, 1.38; 1.07–1.79; psoriasis: adjusted HR, 1.26; 1.13–1.41) compared with nonpsoriatic controls.

In addition, both groups were at increased risk of incident hypothyroidism (psoriatic arthritis: adjusted HR, 1.74; 1.34–2.27; psoriasis: adjusted HR, 1.38; 1.23–1.56) and Hashimoto thyroiditis (psoriatic arthritis: adjusted HR, 2.09; 1.34–3.24; psoriasis: adjusted HR, 1.47; 1.18–1.82).

A previous meta-analysis reported that thyroid peroxidase antibodies, hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism could be associated with prevalent psoriatic disease, but only a few studies with large heterogeneity regarding psoriatic disease and definition and indication of publication bias were available. [Eur J Endocrinol 2017;177:347-359]

In the present nationwide cohort study, the authors examined the risk for thyroid diseases among psoriasis patients using Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database. They assessed the adjusted HRs and 95 percent CIs for incident thyroid diseases in relation to psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. One of its limitations is the lack of data on psoriasis severity.