CONCLUSION: Smoking is associated with the clinical severity of
psoriasis and highlights the importance of smoking cessation in
patients with psoriasis.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association between different components of
smoking history and the clinical severity of psoriasis. DESIGN: A
hospital-based cross-sectional study.

SETTING: Inpatient wards of a
hospital for skin diseases in Rome, Italy.

PATIENTS: A total of 818
adults with psoriasis.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The Psoriasis Area and
Severity Index was used to assess the clinical severity of psoriasis
between February 21, 2000, and February 19, 2002.

RESULTS: After
adjustment for potential confounders (sex, age, body mass index,
psychological distress, family history of psoriasis, duration of
psoriasis disease, and alcohol consumption), high intensity of smoking
(>20 cigarettes daily) vs a lower level of consumption (< or =10
cigarettes daily) was associated with a more than 2-fold increased risk
of clinically more severe psoriasis (odds ratio [OR], 2.2; 95%
confidence interval [CI], 1.2-4.1). Cigarette-years, measured as the
product of the intensity and duration (years) of smoking, significantly
increased the risk of clinically more severe psoriasis after adjustment
for confounding factors (OR,1.3; 95% CI, 1.0-1.6, for a 600-U increase
in cigarette-years). Separate analyses for men and women showed that
the effect of cigarette-years was stronger for women (OR, 1.8; 95% CI,
1.2-2.6, for a 400-U increase in cigarette-years) than for men (OR,
1.2; 95% CI, 0.9-1.6, for a 700-U increase in cigarette-years).

CONCLUSION: Smoking is associated with the clinical severity of
psoriasis and highlights the importance of smoking cessation in
patients with psoriasis.

PMID: 16365261 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]