Alcohol intake and risk of incident psoriasis in US women: A prospective studyJournal of Investigative Dermatology (2009), Volume 129 S 63
Society for Investigative Dermatology 2009 Annual Meeting Abstract 375
The association between alcohol consumption and risk of developing psoriasis has long been suspected but has not been prospectively evaluated. Additionally, a potential risk of psoriasis associated with different types of alcoholic beverages has not been previously assessed.
We sought to determine if alcohol intake is an independent risk factor for new onset psoriasis in the Nurses Health Study 2, a cohort study in the United States consisting of 82,869 female nurses aged 27 to 44 at baseline.
We evaluated risk for incident psoriasis among participants who reported amount and type of alcohol intake. We excluded participants with a history of psoriasis prior to 1991. Over 14 years (1991-2005) we used biennial questionnaires to assess type and amount of alcohol consumption. Self-reported incident physician-diagnosed psoriasis was the main outcome measure.
We documented 955 incident cases of psoriasis. Compared with women who did not drink alcohol, the multivariate relative risk (RR) of psoriasis was 1.59 (95% CI 1.02-2.49) for alcohol consumption ≥ 30 g/week. When examined by type of alcoholic beverage, non-light beer consumption
showed the only independent association with the risk of psoriasis (multivariate RR for ≥5 drinks/wk 1.83; 95% CI 1.16-2.86); Light beer, red wine, white wine, and liquor consumption were not significantly associated with psoriasis risk.
In conclusion, non-light beer intake is associated with an increased risk of psoriasis in this population of US women. Light beer, wine, and liquor did not increase risk for psoriasis.
Read Abstracts (PDF)
Abstract Lead Author: abrar.qureshi@channing.harvard.edu
