Background/Purpose:

The BIOmarkers of COMorbidities (BIOCOM) in psoriasis study is a longitudinal study which aims to identify clinical, genetic or protein biomarker features associated with the development of co-morbidities, notably Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA), in patients with psoriasis.

There is a well-established association between smoking and psoriasis, and between smoking and PsA, in the general population. Paradoxically, smoking has been shown to be negatively associated with the development of PsA in patients with established psoriasis. Herein we describe the prevalence of smoking in this BIOCOM cohort.

Methods:

Patients with psoriasis were recruited from the dermatology clinics at St. Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin. Inclusion criteria included disease duration of less than 10 years and an age of 18 years or older. Patients with another serious active medical illness, a previous diagnosis of inflammatory arthritis or those who were receiving systemic immunosuppressant therapy for psoriasis were excluded.

Patients with PsA were recruited from the rheumatology clinics at St. Vincent’s University Hospital. Patients had to meet CASPAR (ClASsification criteria for Psoriatic Arthritis) criteria for inclusion in the study.

Results:

To date 190 patients with psoriasis have been recruited. Of those, 9 were excluded due to a diagnosis of psoriasis > 10 years previously. One was excluded due to a previous diagnosis of JIA. This left 180 patients with psoriasis who were brought in for an initial assessment. After the initial assessment 7 patients were diagnosed with PsA, meeting CASPAR criteria. This left 173 patients for inclusion in the analysis.

100 patients with established PsA were recruited and were included in the study.

Table 1 describes demographic and clinical characteristics of the study population at baseline assessment.

The proportion of smokers (current and past) was lower in the PsA group compared to the psoriasis group: 52.0 versus 63.6. Table 2 shows smoking characteristics of patients with PsA and psoriasis.

Conclusion:

Analysis of patients recruited to date for the BIOCOM-Pso study shows a higher percentage of smokers (current and past) in the psoriasis group compared to the PsA group. The proportion of smokers (current and past) in the PsA group was comparable to the general Irish population.

These findings are consistent with previous studies that showed a negative association between smoking and the development of PsA in patients with psoriasis. However, prospective follow-up of patients with psoriasis, which is ongoing in this BIOCOM cohort, is required to further elucidate the role of smoking in the development of PsA.

« Back to 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting

ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/smoking-status-in-patients-with-psoriasis-and-psoriatic-arthritis-an-irish-perspective/