Smoking cessation, preventing obesity help reduce psoriasis risk

The incidence of psoriasis may be decreased by maintaining a normal weight and by putting a stop to the use of tobacco and cigarettes, a recent study has shown. In addition, addressing the inequality in education may help lower the cases of this condition.

A team of investigators carried out a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to examine whether genetically predicted exposures to modifiable factors were associated with the risk of psoriasis.

The risk of psoriasis was increased for genetically predicted lifetime smoking index (odds ratio [OR], 2.11, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.28‒3.51), childhood (OR, 1.40, 95 percent CI, 1.14‒1.71) and adult body mass index (BMI; OR, 1.63, 95 percent CI, 1.32‒2.00), waist (OR, 1.86, 95 percent CI, 1.31‒2.64), and hip circumference (OR, 1.55, 95 percent CI, 1.15‒2.07).

On the other hand, a protective association was observed between genetically predicted longer sleep duration (OR, 0.56, 95 percent CI, 0.37‒0.84) and increased years of education (OR, 0.78, 95 percent CI, 0.62‒0.98). The effect of education was maintained in multivariable MR after adjustments for genetic predictors of smoking and adult BMI (OR, 0.72, 95 percent CI, 0.56‒0.92).

The study was limited by the failure to stratify for psoriasis severity.

“Smoking cessation and prevention of obesity are important strategies for decreasing the incidence of psoriasis,” the investigators said. “Similarly, targeting education inequality is expected to lead further to reductions in cases of psoriasis.”