Heavy alcohol consumption was associated with incident psoriatic arthritis in women, Shaowei Wu, Ph.D., and his associates reported in a study of 116,430 female registered nurses in the Nurses’ Health Study II.
The investigators found 141 incident cases of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) during 1,137,763 years of follow-up in 1991-2005. The risk for PsA was not signficantly different between drinkers and nondrinkers for women who consumed 0.1-14.9 g/day (hazard ratio, 0.7) or 15-29.9 g/day (HR, 1.43), but women who consumed more than 30 g/day had a signficantly elevated risk (HR, 4.45). The results remained consistent when updated alcohol intake and 1991 baseline consumption was used, and when the analysis was restricted to those who developed psoriasis during follow-up.
“These findings are also in line with the biological evidence that high levels of alcohol intake contribute to systemic inflammation and may trigger psoriatic eruption, and thus may have important implications for the prevention of PsA,” the investigators concluded.
Find the full study in the Journal of Rheumatology (doi:10.3899/jrheum.140808).