PSORIASIS AND CANCER RISK

Miami Beach, FL (Reuters Health) Mar 10 - Psoriasis is associated with a significantly greater risk of malignancy, including skin and prostate cancer and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, according to new research presented here at the 68th annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD 2010).

Dr. Carol Bau, from Health Economics and Outcomes Research, Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, Illinois, and her colleagues identified their study subjects from the Thomson MarketScan claims database, a large insurance claims database that includes claims from approximately 93 million individuals in the U.S. (Thomson MarketScan is a product of Thomson Reuters, the parent company of Reuters Health.)

Adults with psoriasis who had been continuously enrolled in a health plan for at least 6 months were matched with controls on a 1:3 ratio by age, gender, and geographic region.

Overall, the study included 37,159 patients and 111,473 controls. The mean age was 45.3 years; 49% were female.

Demographic characteristics of the groups were similar, but the psoriasis group had more comorbidities, including hyperlipidemia, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and peripheral vascular disease (P <>

During an average follow-up of 2.6 years, 34.8% of patients with psoriasis and 23.2% of controls received cancer diagnoses. Skin cancer was diagnosed in 15.7% of patients and 8.8% of controls.

According to the poster presentation, patients with psoriasis had a significantly greater risk for any cancer (hazard ratio = 1.55; p < hr =" 1.75;" hr =" 1.46;">

The psoriasis patients also had significantly greater risks for specific cancer types, including breast cancer (HR = 1.12; p = 0.040), lymphoma (HR = 1.87; p < hr =" 1.75;" hr =" 1.22;">

"We find that psoriasis patients have a 56% higher risk for any type of cancer, 76% higher risk for skin cancer, 82% higher risk for lymphoma, and 22% higher risk for prostate cancer," Dr. Bau told Reuters Health. "This may be due in part to their treatment. Some were on phototherapy and this is known to be associated with an increase in skin cancer. But the increased risk in the other cancers is a new finding from real world data in the U.S."

She added, "Psoriasis is a systemic disease and it is definitely more than just skin deep. Our findings underscore the fact that we really need to monitor patients not only for their skin symptoms, but also for their overall health, comorbidities, and well-being."