Increase Risk of Multiple Sclerosis in Patients with Psoriasis Disease: An Evidence of Observational Studies

Psoriasis, a common chronic inflammatory disease, increases the risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS), but evidence for this outcome is still unclear. However, we performed a meta-analysis of relevant studies to quantify the magnitude of the association between psoriasis and MS. It will help to assess the current state of knowledge, fill the gaps in our existing concern, and make a recommendation for future research.

PubMed, EMBASE, and the bibliographies of articles were searched for studies published between January 1, 1990, and November 1, 2017, which reported on the association between psoriasis and MS. Articles were included if they (1) were published in English, (2) reported patients with psoriasis, and the outcome of interest was MS, (3) provided OR/RR/HR with 95% CI or sufficient information to calculate the 95% CI, and (4) if ≥50 patients. All abstracts, full-text articles, and sources were reviewed, with duplicate data excluded. Summary relative risk (ORs) with 95% CI was pooled using a random-effects model. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses were also conducted.

We selected 11 articles out of 785 unique abstracts for full-text review using our predetermined selection criteria, and 9 out of these 11 studies met all of our inclusion criteria. The overall pooled increased of developing MS in patients with psoriasis was RR 1.607 (95% CI 1.322-1.953, p < 0.0001) with low heterogeneity (I2 = 37.41%, Q = 12.782, τ2 = 0.027) for the random effect model. In the subgroup analysis, the MS risk in the patient with psoriasis was also significantly higher in the 6 studies from Europe RR 1.57 (95% CI 1.26-1.94, p < 0.001) with moderate heterogeneity (I2 = 50.66%, Q = 10.13, τ2 = 0.03) for the random effect model.

Our results showed that psoriasis is significantly associated with an increased risk of developing MS. Physicians should carefully be observed symptoms and empower their patients to improve existing knowledge and quality of life. Further studies are warranted to establish the mechanisms underlying this relationship.