Introduction: Recent studies raises possibilities that chronic inflammation may promote the progression of cancer, but the role of autoimmune conditions including psoriasis in the pathogenesis of malignancy has not been elucidated sufficiently.
Objectives: To evaluate the association between psoriasis and malignancies in the adult general population of United States.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study used the data of the 5,763 subjects aged 20 years or older who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2013-2014. Using logistic regression analyses, we estimated the odds ratio of malignancy according to psoriasis.
Results: The proportion of the participants who had been told as having malignancy was 15.4% in those with psoriasis, but it was 9.3% in those without psoriasis. The odds of malignancy was significantly higher in subjects with psoriasis compared to those without psoriasis (odds ratio 1.77 [95% confidence interval 1.11 – 2.71], p-value = 0.012).
Conclusions: This population-based study shows that psoriasis may be associated with malignancy in the adult general population of United States. Further studies will be needed to determine the role of psoriasis in the pathogenesis of malignancy.