Chronic periodontitis increases risk of psoriasis

(HealthDay) -- Patients with chronic periodontitis (CP) are 1.5 times more likely to be diagnosed with psoriasis, and this risk is lessened but not nullified by CP treatment using gingivectomy or periodontal flap operation, according to research published online July 3 in the British Journal of Dermatology.

Joseph J. Keller, M.D., and Herng-Ching Lin, M.D., of the Taipei Medical University in Taiwan, conducted a five-year case-cohort study involving 115,365 patients with CP and 115,365 patients without CP to evaluate the risk for psoriasis after diagnosis with CP.

The researchers found that during the five-year period of this study the incidence of psoriasis was 1.88 and 1.22 per 1,000 person-years in persons with and without CP, respectively. After controlling for deaths during follow-up, monthly income, and geographical and regional differences, patients with CP were 1.5-fold more likely to be diagnosed with psoriasis compared with those who did not have CP. Gingivectomy or periodontal flap operation for CP lessened but did not nullify the risk of developing psoriasis.

"This study detected an increased risk for psoriasis among patients suffering from CP, and thus is able to contribute the results of a large-scale population-based cohort study to the pioneering study suggesting this association in the literature," the authors write.