title: Might psoriasis be a risk factor for obstructive sleep apnea syndrome?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It is believed that psoriasis is a chronic systemic inflammatory disease. Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is a disease influencing all systems and characterized by intermittent partial or complete obstruction of the upper respiratory tract during sleep. In our study, we aimed to investigate the frequency of OSAS in patients previously diagnosed with psoriasis in order to investigate a potential association between chronic inflammation psoriasis and OSAS.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-three patients diagnosed with psoriasis by biopsy were enrolled into the study. Demographics of patients, Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI), Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), and Epworth Sleepiness Scale were examined. All patients underwent polysomnography.
  
  
  RESULTS
  OSAS was determined in 18 of 33 patients with psoriasis (54.5 %). Eleven of the 18 patients had mild, 2 had moderate, and 5 had severe OSAS. Mean age was significantly higher in the OSAS group in comparison with non-OSAS group (54.4 ± 15.5 vs 39.4 ± 11.8, respectively, p < 0.05). Mean PASI was higher in the OSAS group in comparison with that of non-OSAS group, and the difference was not significant, although mean DLQI was lower (p > 0.05). It is believed that this was caused by the small patient population.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We detected that the frequency of OSAS in patients with psoriasis was much higher than that in the normal population. Though OSAS is not easy to diagnose without detailed testing, it should be investigated in psoriatic patients with long disease duration and high PASI score, and patients refractory to conventional systemic treatment. Physicians treating patients with psoriatic disease should incorporate this life-altering comorbidity into their assessment of disease and selection of treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Afyon Kocatepe University, Izmir yolu, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey. shems@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Semsettin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Karaca
authors.forename: Fatma
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fidan
authors.forename: Faruk
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Erkan
authors.forename: Serkan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nural
authors.forename: Tulay
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pinarcı
authors.forename: Ersin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gunay
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Unlu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017286:Polysomnography; D011565:Psoriasis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012307:Risk Factors; D020181:Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult