Illicit drug use may be more common in people with psoriasis. Apart from studies on alcohol and nicotine abuse, very few studies have investigated drug use, including illicit drug and cannabis use, among those with psoriasis.
To investigate this question, researchers used data from the United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2009 to 2014, to compare illicit drug use – cocaine, cannabis and heroin – in 309 patients with psoriasis and 1236 matched controls without psoriasis.
They found that after accounting for current illnesses, alcohol and smoking habits, psoriasis was consistently associated with more frequent use of illicit drugs. The investigators concluded that health professionals should be alert to possible drug use among populations with psoriasis.
Comment
There were significant limitations to this study, including the use of self-reported questionnaires, which are known to have problems (e.g. recall bias). One must also bear in mind that use of illicit drugs is more common in the US than in most European countries, including the UK. Nevertheless, this study makes an important observation and one that should be borne in mind by health professionals in any country.
Reference
Kao L-T, Li I-H, Wang W-M, Lee H-C, Kao H-H, Pan K-T. Illicit drugs, cannabis, and psoriasis in the United States: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. 2020. J Am Acad Dermatol 2020, 82: 1514-1517
Source:
Dr David Ashton MD PhD