FRIDAY, June 12, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Injuries increase the risk of psoriatic arthritis in people who have psoriasis, a new study suggests.
Psoriatic arthritis -- chronic arthritis associated with the skin condition psoriasis -- can lead to severe, disabling joint damage. About 30 percent of people with psoriasis develop psoriatic arthritis, according to the researchers.
The study included information collected between 1995 and 2013. The information was from more than 70,000 psoriasis patients, including more than 15,000 who suffered physical injury. During that time, more than 1,000 cases of psoriatic arthritis were diagnosed.
The incidence rate of psoriatic arthritis was 30 per 10,000 person-years among those who had a physical injury. In people without injury, the rate of psoriatic arthritis was 22 per 10,000 person-years.
The increased risk of psoriatic arthritis associated with injury was even greater when the injury involved bone and/or joints, according to the study.
Although this study found an association between the development of psoriatic arthritis and injury, the study wasn't designed to prove a cause-and-effect relationship.
Findings from the study were presented Thursday at the annual congress of the European League Against Rheumatism in Rome. Findings presented at meetings are generally viewed as preliminary until they've been published in a peer-reviewed journal.
"This is the first sizable population-based cohort study to determine the risk of psoriatic arthritis following trauma in psoriasis patients," study senior author Thorvardur Love, of Landspitali University Hospital in Iceland, said in a league news release.
"Our findings highlight the importance of further study into the complex factors that lead to arthritis in psoriasis patients, as we may find ways to modify the risk once we fully understand it," Love added.
More information
The U.S. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases has more about psoriatic arthritis.
