Smoking, but not alcohol, ups risk of psoriasis

The risk of psoriasis is higher among current smokers, particularly those who smoke >25 cigarettes per day and for >20 pack-years, according to a Taiwanese population-based cohort study. On the other hand, alcohol consumption shows no significant association with psoriasis development.

Psoriasis developed in 242 (0.40 percent) of 60,136 participants. After controlling for demographics and comorbidities, no significant association was found between alcohol consumption and risk of psoriasis.

In contrast, there was a higher risk of psoriasis for current smokers compared with never smokers (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.47; 95 percent CI, 1.04–2.07). This risk was particularly augmented among individuals who smoked >25 cigarettes per day and for >20 pack-years. Furthermore, subgroup analysis revealed that current smoking significantly correlated with psoriasis risk without psoriatic arthritis but not psoriatic arthritis alone.

To examine the effects of alcohol and smoking on incident psoriasis, the authors collected alcohol consumption, smoking status and other covariates from four rounds (2001, 2005, 2009 and 2013) of the Taiwan National Health Interview Survey. They identified incident psoriasis from the National Health Insurance database. Analysis was conducted using the Cox regression model.

This study was limited by the failure to assess alcohol consumption based on the number of drinks consumed.

“Alcohol consumption and smoking have long been suspected of increasing the risk of developing psoriasis. Most evidence to date has derived from cross-sectional or case-control studies,” the authors noted.