21 Jul, 2010 in Health and Pharmacy News by admin

Study: Obesity Predicts Psoriatic Arthritis


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Body Mass Index at Age 18 Helps Determine Who May Develop Psoriatic Arthritis Later in Adulthood, Researchers Say

By Katrina Woznicki
WebMD Health News

Reviewed By
Laura J. Martin, MD

July 19, 2010 — People who are obese at age 18 may face a higher risk of developing psoriatic arthritis as they grow older, according to a recent study.

Using statistical models, researchers led by Razieh Soltani-Arabshahi, MD, of the University of Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake City, found that a body mass index (BMI) — a measurement of height as well as weight — that indicated obesity at age 18 was predictive of developing psoriatic arthritis, a form of arthritis that affects between 6% as well as 42% of patients with psoriasis.

All of the patients in the study had psoriasis confirmed by a dermatologist. Psoriatic arthritis diagnoses were made by rheumatologists. BMI was based on the participants’ self-reported height as well as weight at age 18 as well as at the time of enrollment.At age 18, 14.1% of the group was considered clinically overweight based on their BMI as well as 5% was considered obese.At the time of enrollment, 33.5% were overweight as well as 35.5% were obese.

Based on an evaluation of 943 study participants, Soltani-Arabshahi as well as colleagues found that:

  • 20% of the overweight or obese participants developed psoriatic arthritis by age 35, compared with the group of participants who had a common BMI, where 20% did not develop psoriatic arthritis until age 48.
  • Being younger when psoriasis earliest occurred, being womanly, as well as having larger body surfaces affected with psoriasis as well as predicted who would develop psoriatic arthritis at a younger age.

The findings are published in Monday’s issue of Archives of Dermatology.

These results, the authors say, “support a growing concept that patients more prone to psoriatic arthritis may benefit from more repeated as well as meticulous screening measures for beginning detection as well as treatment of psoriatic arthritis, i.e., before the development of irreversible joint destruction.”

In an accompanying editorial, Alexis Ogdie, MD, as well as Joel M. Gelfand, MD, from the University of Pennsylvania Hospital, note that psoriatic arthritis symptoms often dont surface until years after the development of psoriasis. This window offers doctors a chance to identify patients at risk for developing psoriatic arthritis.

“Epidemiologic studies evaluating risk factors for psoriatic disease did not start until very recently, as well as very few environmental risk factors (such as obesity as well as smoking for psoriasis) possess been identified as well as confirmed in more than one study,

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