Thyroid dysfunction in patients with psoriasis: A case-control study from a tertiary care centre in South India

Abstract

Psoriasis is an immune-arbitrated cutaneous disorder in which both genetic and habitational factors play a decisive role. Certain endocrinological disturbances like thyroid dysfunction can exacerbate the disease. This research aspires in knowing the prevalence of thyroid disease in psoriatic patients and the severity of psoriasis in those with thyroid disease with age and gender-evened controls. This was a case-referent study encompassing 100 adult psoriasis patients and 100 age and gender-evened healthy controls. The statistical differences between proportions were determined by chi-square analysis. A P-value of <0.05 was regarded as significant.In the current study, thyroid dysfunction was present in 20 % of cases and 8% of controls and serum TSH levels were significant among cases, with a p-value of 0.046. There was a clear association betwixt the psoriasis area severity index (PASI) and presence of thyroid dysfunction with a significant P-value of < 0.001. There was also a positive correlation between familial incidence of psoriasis and the presence of thyroid dysfunction in conjunction with span of psoriasis and the presence of thyroid dysfunction providing significant P-values of <0.001 and <0.002, correspondingly. Observations from our study provide compelling evidence that psoriasis is associated with thyroid dysfunction, which may affect the quality of life, as we documented higher PASI scores in psoriatics with thyroid dysfunction than those with normal thyroid function. It also highlights the importance of adopting a multidimensional approach for the management of psoriasis.