Association between psoriasis and hepatitis B and C

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of study is to assess the association between patients with psoriasis and hepatitis B and/or C.Methods: This case control study that enrolled total 110 patients with psoriasis were included in the study, 63 males and 47 females and their age range from 15 to 70 years old , with male to female ratio 1.4 :1 . The study was conducted in Al sader teaching hospital and Al Hakeem hospital in Al Najaf governorate during the period from January 2013 to February 2014. All recruited patients had their ages, gender and case histories recorded on an already prepared data sheet. All recruited patients and control groups had been subjected to that Hepatitis Bs antigen (HBsAg) and anti-hepatitis C antibodies (anti-HCV) were done using Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) kits.Results: This study that enrolled total 110 patients were included, 63 males and 47 females and their age range from 15 to 70 years old , with male to female ratio 1.4 :1 . There were increased incidence of male patients with psoriasis 63(44.1%), but there were no statistically significant difference between studied patients and control groups, (p=0.5) . There were increased incidence of patients with psoriasis younger than 50 years, 70 (53.8%), statistically significant difference between studied patients and control groups, (p=0.007) .There were statistically significant difference between studied patients and control groups regarding smoking , 30 (33.3%), (p=0.003). There were increased incidence of seropositive for hepatitis C in patients with psoriasis .There were statistically significant difference between studied patients and control groups regarding hepatitis C 4 (16.7 %), (p=0.003). There were no statistically significant difference between studied patients and control groups regarding hepatitis B 1 (33.3%), (p=0.6) .Conclusions: This study support of an association between psoriasis and hepatitis C but not with hepatitis B. The predictors for psoriasis as risk factor in this study were male younger than 50 years with history of smoking with association with hepatitis C infection .Recommendation: Physicians who care for patients with psoriasis should be aware of this possible association and consider screening patients with psoriasis for hepatitis C infection.