Pediatric Psoriasis Is Associated with Higher Risk for Psychiatric Disorders

Psoriasis can cause skin discomfort and social stigmatization. In adults, studies show that psoriasis may lead to decreased self-esteem and increased depression, anxiety, and suicide ideation (JW Dermatol Nov 19 2010 and Oct 2 2009). Because 30% of psoriasis begins in childhood, these investigators studied the risk for associated psychiatric disorders in the young.

Using information from a national database for a 6-year period, the researchers compared 7404 pediatric patients with newly diagnosed psoriasis and 37,020 control children with no history of psoriasis or psychiatric illness (53.7%, female; mean age at index date, 11.4 years, for both groups). Comorbid hyperlipidemia, obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases were significantly more common in the psoriasis cohort than in the psoriasis-free controls, but prevalence was less than 2%. All subjects were followed from their index dates to first diagnosis of psychiatric disorder. Significantly more psoriasis patients than control patients (5.1% vs. 4.1%) were diagnosed with psychiatric disorders, especially depression and anxiety (P<0.0001). After adjusting for confounding factors, the psoriasis patients were 47% more likely than the control patients to receive a psychotropic medication, specifically antidepressants and anxiolytics.