Patients with schizophrenia have a higher risk of psoriasis: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Recent studies have suggested an increased risk of psoriasis among patients with schizophrenia although the results are still inconclusive. This systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort and case-control studies that compared the risk psoriasis among patients with schizophrenia versus subjects without schizophrenia was conducted to better characterize the risk. Pooled relative risks and 95% confidence intervals from the included studies were calculated using a random-effect, generic inverse variance method of DerSimonian and Laird. After a comprehensive literature review, 2 retrospective cohort studies and 4 case-control studies with approximately 6.1 million participants were identified. The meta-analysis found that the risk of psoriasis among patients with schizophrenia was significantly higher than non-schizophrenia subjects. Subgroup analysis by study design revealed a significantly higher risk in both cohort study and case-control study subgroup.