According to a study presented at this year’s American College of Rheumatology Annual Meeting, excess weight loss can lead to improvements in psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis symptoms.
The researchers utilized a database of 9,073 bariatric surgeries performed at a single center between 2002 and 2013, identifying 128 patients with psoriasis – of which 21 had psoriatic arthritis (PsA). These 128 patients were contacted to discuss their history of psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis, changes in symptoms after weight loss surgery, and treatment modalities utilized both pre and post-surgery.
“At the time of contact, [with a mean time from surgery of 6.1 years] 55% of psoriasis and 62% of PsA patients reported subjective improvement of their disease. Disease severity rating (0-10 scale) significantly decreased from prior to surgery compared to 1 year post surgery for psoriasis (5.6 vs 4.4, p<0.01) and PsA (6.4 vs 4.5, p=0.01), and was more pronounced among severe (rating >5) psoriasis (7.7 vs 5.7, p<0.01) and PsA (8.2 vs 4.8, p<0.01).”
The researchers concluded that a majority of patients experience improvement after excess weight loss via bariatric surgery. They state, “Despite study limitations, we show for the first time an improvement
in PsA after bariatric surgery and a possible association with surgical EWL [excess weight loss]. Larger
prospective studies are needed to further define the true effect of surgical weight loss on psoriasis and PsA.”
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