Familial psoriasis may not be tied to obesity

(HealthDay)—Obesity does not necessarily induce or contribute to familial psoriasis, according to a study published online Jan. 17 in the Journal of Dermatology.

Bolortuya Bayaraa, M.D., from Fukuoka University in Japan, and colleagues used data from the Fukuoka University Psoriasis Registry to compare obesity status at the onset of psoriasis in patients (≥10 years) with and without familial psoriasis (27 and 428 patients, respectively).

The researchers found that age at onset was younger for both men and women with familial psoriasis (34 and 40 years, respectively) compared with participants with nonfamilial psoriasis (48 and 53 years, respectively). Patients with familial psoriasis had lower body mass index (BMI; 22.0 kg/m²) than those with nonfamilial psoriasis (23.2 kg/m²) when accounting for age- and sex-adjusted average BMI values.

"Individuals with a family history of psoriasis should be considered to be at risk for developing the disease even if obesity is not present," the authors write.