Effect of eating and psychopathological traits in psoriatic patients

Abstract

Background Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory immune-mediated skin disease. Few studies have investigated the link between psychiatric disorders including eating disorders (EDs) and psoriasis. We hypothesized that EDs and the psychological effect of psoriasis contribute to the development of obesity and metabolic syndrome in psoriatic patients, who are frequently susceptible to psychiatric comorbidity. Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate the presence of EDs and psychological distress in patients affected by psoriasis compared with a control population and correlate these data with different features of the cutaneous disease and BMI. This was done to suggest the importance of a psychological support that could reduce the occurrence of loss of control over food and help psoriasis improvement. Patients and methods From September 2014 till February 2015, we enrolled 100 consecutive psoriatic outpatients and a control group of 100 selected nonpsoriatic outpatients, matched by age, sex, and BMI to the study group. The assessment utilities were composed by the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI), the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R), and the Psoriasis Area Severity Index score. Results Regarding EDI and SCL-90-R subscales, psoriatic patients had higher scores for all EDI and SCL-90-R subscales than nonpsoriatic patients. According to the relation between BMI and SCL-90-R subscales in psoriatic patients, obese and overweight groups showed higher scores in all SCL-90-R subscales than the normal weight group. Conclusion In patients with psoriasis, EDs and severe psychiatric symptoms seem to be associated with overweight/obesity more frequently than in the general population.

Keywords

• eating disorders
• obesity
• psoriasis
• psychiatric symptoms