title: Medical history, drug exposure and the risk of psoriasis. Evidence from an Italian case-control study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the association of psoriasis with selected medical conditions and a number of drugs used before diagnosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Multicenter case-control study involving outpatient services of 20 general and teaching hospitals. Entry criteria for cases were a first diagnosis of psoriasis made by a dermatologist and a history of skin manifestations of no more than 2 years after the reported onset of the disease. Controls were the first eligible dermatological patients observed on randomly selected days in the same centers as cases. A total of 560 cases and 690 controls were recruited.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The odds ratio (OR) of psoriasis was 0.8 (95% confidence interval, CI, 0.5-1.3) in hypertensive subjects, 1.1 (95% CI 0.6-2.0) in diabetics and 1.1 (95% CI 0.7-1.7) in hyperlipidemic subjects. Histamine 2 receptor antagonist exposure was negatively associated with psoriasis: OR 0.3 (95% CI 0.1-0.8).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study rules out a strong association of psoriasis at its first ever diagnosis with common chronic conditions. The reported associations of psoriasis with relatively common conditions such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension and hyperlipidemia may represent a late effect of well-known risk factors for psoriasis such as smoking and overweight or reflect factors related to the long course of psoriasis itself.
authors.affiliation: Centro Studi GISED, Ospedali Riuniti di Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy. luigi.naldi@gised.it
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Naldi
authors.forename: Liliane
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chatenoud
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Belloni
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Peserico
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Balato
authors.forename: Anna Rosa
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Virgili
authors.forename: Pier Luigi
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Bruni
authors.forename: Vito
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ingordo
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lo Scocco
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Solaroli
authors.forename: Donatella
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schena
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Landro
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pezzarossa
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Arcangeli
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gianni
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Betti
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Carli
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Farris
authors.forename: Gian Franco
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Barabino
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: La Vecchia
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Parazzini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006633:Histamine Antagonists / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011379:Prognosis; D011565:Psoriasis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution
chemical_list: D006633:Histamine Antagonists