Association of Skin Psoriasis and Somatic Comorbidity with the Development of Psychiatric Illness in a Nationwide Swedish Study

Psoriatic disease is a complex disease with skin involvement, multiple comorbidities, and mental health impact. Although this view of psoriatic disease is widely accepted, the synergies between skin psoriasis and its somatic comorbidities has not been adequately investigated.

This paper, published in Jama Dermatology by Kirk Geale and colleagues, investigated the link between psoriatic disease and the development of psychiatric illness. Do psoriasis and its associated comorbidities work together to increase the risk of mental health impact?

Reviewing data from 93,000 patients and comparing with just over 1.3 million control participants, the study determined that people with skin psoriasis and without its comorbidity were more likely to have psychological impact compared to their counterparts. Additionally, the risk of experiencing a psychological effect increases even the more (by 2.56 times) when a person has psoriasis and its comorbidities