Cognitive Impairment in Patients with Psoriasis: A Cross-Sectional Study Using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment

Psoriasis is a multisystem chronic inflammatory disorder that is thought to be associated with cognitive impairment.

We aimed to investigate cognitive performance using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) in patients with psoriasis.

In total, 77 patients with psoriasis and 83 age- and sex-matched control subjects were enrolled in this prospective cross-sectional study. Physical and/or histopathological findings were used to diagnose psoriasis vulgaris, and patients with psoriasis were evaluated according to disease characteristics, including duration, severity, onset age, medical treatment, and cosmetic involvement. All participants provided sociodemographic data and completed the Beck Depression Inventory. Cognitive functions were evaluated using the MoCA tool.

The MoCA scores were significantly lower in the psoriasis group than in the control group (p = 0.004). More psoriasis patients than control subjects presented with deficits in visuospatial domain (p = 0.037) and executive functioning (p = 0.010). In the multivariate model, the presence of psoriasis (odds ratio [OR] 3.64; 95 % confidence interval [CI] 1.65-8.02; p = 0.001), education level (3.74; 95 % CI 1.65-8.48; p = 0.002), and area of residence (3.56; 95 % CI 1.61-7.87; p = 0.002) were found to be independently associated with cognitive impairment in patients with psoriasis and control subjects. On the other hand, no correlations were observed between disease characteristics and cognitive impairment in patients with psoriasis vulgaris (p > 0.05).

The results suggest that psoriasis patients might have early or subtle cognitive impairment, including visuospatial domain and executive functioning.