Psoriasis comorbidity: prevalence, diagnosis and treatment

The global incidence of psoriasis is about 1%-3%, and in China is about 0.47%. It is reported that 57.9% of psoriasis patients have at least one psoriasis comorbidity, which not only affects the progression and severity of psoriasis, but also affects the treatment choice and therapeutic effect for patients. Psoriatic arthritis is the most common comorbidity, with the prevalence of 6% to 42% in the world, of approximately 14% in Asia，and of about 4.9% in Chinese population. Psoriasis is one of the risk factors for cardiovascular disease and is an independent risk factor for myocardial infarction. Compared with non-psoriasis patients, psoriasis patients have an higher prevalence of metabolic diseases.The risk of diabetes in psoriasis patients increases by 0.69 times.The risk of obesity increases by 0.46 times in mild psoriasis patients and by 1.23 times in moderate to severe psoriasis patients. In addition, the prevalence of depression in psoriasis patients increases by 0.5 times, and the risk of autoimmune diseases is also higher. For treatment of psoriasis and psoriasis comorbidities, systemic anti-inflammatory treatment can not only relieve or eliminate skin inflammation, but also alleviate the occurrence, progression or severity of psoriasis comorbidities. The treatment principle of psoriasis comorbidities should take the condition of the patient’s psoriasis into consideration, and should also depend on the type of comorbidity, the risk of worsening of comorbidity, etc. Multidisciplinary collaboration is the trend in the diagnosis and treatment of psoriasis and its comorbidities. The cross-disciplinary cooperation between dermatologists and specialists matters a lot.