Psoriasis tied to higher risk of serious liver disease

Psoriasis tied to higher risk of serious liver disease
Last Updated: 2017-11-10
By Lisa Rapaport

(Reuters Health) - People with chronic inflammatory disorders like psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis may have an increased risk of developing serious liver damage, a recent study suggests.

These inflammatory disorders are often treated with methotrexate, a medication linked to an increased risk of liver disease. For the current study, researchers followed more than 1 million people for an average of six years to see how having conditions like psoriasis or rheumatoid arthritis - and taking methotrexate - influenced the odds of developing serious liver disorders.

Compared to people without chronic inflammatory diseases, people with psoriasis were 37% more likely to develop liver disorders. When psoriasis patients took methotrexate, they had roughly twice the odds of liver damage.

With psoriatic arthritis, the increased risk of liver disease was 38% without drug therapy and 67% with methotrexate. For rheumatoid arthritis, there was no increased risk of liver disease when people took methotrexate, but when they didn't they had 49% higher odds of liver damage.

Read more... http://www.chronicliverdisease.org/reuters/article.cfm?article=20171110Other813912491

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2zyiP6L
J Invest Dermatol 2017.