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Psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis associated with increased migraine risk

Patients with psoriasis had an increased risk of new-onset migraine dependent on disease severity, and patients with psoriatic arthritis also had an increased risk, according to recently published study results.

Researchers studied a nationwide Danish cohort of 5,379,859 citizens aged 18 years and older from 1997 to 2011. The cohort included 53,006 patients with mild psoriasis, 6,831 patients with severe psoriasis and 6,243 patients with psoriatic arthritis. Incidence rates were calculated per 1,000 person-years, with Poisson regression models used to adjust incidence rate ratios.

Incidence rates per 1,000 person years of new-onset migraine were 3.86 for the entire cohort, 5.25 for patients with mild psoriasis, 6.41 for severe psoriasis and 9.27 for psoriatic arthritis.

Patients with mild psoriasis had fully adjusted incidence rate ratio for migraine of 1.37 (95% CI, 1.3-1.45); severe psoriasis, 1.55 (95% CI, 1.29-1.86); and psoriatic arthritis, 1.92 (CI, 1.65-2.22). Both men and women had increased risk of migraine when stratification for sex was conducted.

“Further studies are warranted to determine the effects of antipsoriatic treatment on this association, and whether migraine modified the psoriasis-associated risk of cardiovascular disease,” the researchers concluded. – By Bruce Thiel

Disclosure: Egeberg reports being employed by Pfizer. Please see the study for a full list of the other researchers’ relevant financial disclosures.