The association between obesity and psoriasis severity

Psoriasis is a common, chronic and inflammatory skin disease. It has been determined that obesity may be associated with this disease. So, the aim of this study was to determine the relationship between obesity and severity of psoriasis in patients referred to dermatology clinic of Razi Hospital.
This cross-sectional study was done on 106 patients with plaque type psoriasis who had not received any systemic treatment .The demographic characteristics such as gender, age, BMI, severity of disease (PASI), waist, and waist to hip ratio were recorded.
42% of the patients had BMI of 25-30 (over weight) and 32% higher than 30 (obese). The mean BMI in women (30.2±5.6) was significantly higher than men (27.6±4.7) (P=0.02). BMI was correlated to disease severity (PASI) , but it was not significant (a=0.143, P=0.114)
Although we did not find any significant correlation between severity of disease and BMI, but the association between severity of disease and high BMI were concluded.