Psoriasis and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes among Women and Men in the United States: A Population-Based Cohort Study

Abstract

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) shares some common risk factors with psoriasis. We evaluated the association between psoriasis and risk of incident T2D among women and men in the United States in a mixed retrospective-prospective cohort study. 184,395 participants were included from an older cohort of women (the Nurses’ Health Study, NHS) (1996–2008), a younger cohort of women (NHS II) (1991–2007) and an older cohort of men (Health Professionals’ Follow-Up Study, HPFS) (1986–2006). During 2,700,958 person-years of follow-up, 9,938 incident T2D cases were confirmed. We found a significantly increased risk of T2D associated with psoriasis only among younger women (NHS II); multivariate-adjusted relative risk (RR) (95% confidence interval (CI)) was 1.25 1.05–1.49). When only including those younger than 60 years during follow-up (NHS and HPFS), we observed a non-significant trend toward increased risk for T2D. In a pooled-analysis of the three cohorts, psoriatics younger than 60 years were at a higher risk of T2D; RR 1.26 (1.08–1.48) for women, and 1.26 (1.08–1.46) for both sexes combined. Further, the risk of T2D was much higher for those developing psoriasis at an early age. In conclusion, we found an association between psoriasis and risk of T2D among individuals younger than 60 years.