Introduction/Aim. Psoriasis is a common, chronic, immune-mediated,
inflammatory and proliferative skin disease in which both genetic and
environmental influences have a role in its pathogenesis. The relationship
between psoriasis and obesity is probably bidirectional. The aim of this
study was to evaluate the association between psoriasis and obesity, whether
a quantitative graduation of overweight using Body Mass Index shows direct
correlation with various clinical variants of psoriasis, disease duration
and having positive family history of psoriasis. Methods. This prospective,
observational descriptive cross-sectional study included 120 psoriatic
patients who were referred to Clinic of dermatovenereology at the University
Clinical Centre of Vojvodina. Clinical variants of psoriasis were
determined. Age, gender, duration of the disease, BMI and family history of
psoriasis were measured and compared. Results. 53.3% males and 46.7%
females were included in this study. The mean age was 49.5?15.5 years. The
most present clinical variants of psoriasis were psoriasis vulgaris (55%)
and psoriatic arthritis (30.0%). Most of the patients (42.5%) were
overweight, 23.3% were obese and 1.7% were morbidly obese. The mean Body
Mass Index was high (27.7?5.2). Mean duration of the disease was 15.6?14.9
years. Positive family history of psoriasis was found in 33 (27.5%)
patients. Conclusion. There was no correlation between the Body Mass Index
and gender of the patients, psoriasis clinical variants, duration of the
disease and positive family history of psoriasis. The slight positive
correlation was found between Body Mass Index and age of psoriatic patients.
That requires further studies that include physical activities
questionnaire, considering that lack of physical activities in older
patients might be an explanation.