Is there any link between Psoriasis and Thyroid Disease?

According to a review study published in Cureus, “Multiple findings demonstrated a positive link between psoriasis and thyroid diseases, including hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism, but the limited findings do not provide a complete elaboration to prove this link up.”

This carried out study included 45 articles that featured psoriasis, hypothyroidism, thyroid function tests, propylthiouracil, and psoriatic arthritis as inclusion keywords. Medical Subject Headings keywords hypothyroidism, psoriasis, and autoimmunity were also imputed into PubMed in order to identify the relevant articles for the review.

Out of 45 articles, 39 included in this review study showed a positive link up in between psoriasis and thyroid diseases, although the remaining 6-articles found no link up.

In 5-articles, researchers demonstrated that the thyroid hormones specifically had an effect on the formation of psoriasis. Other articles showed that immunological, genetic and inflammation were involved in the link up.

The reactive oxygen species related pathogenesis was also observed in a couple of articles. In 5-articles, there were reports of +Ve thyroid peroxidase antibodies, thyroglobulin antibodies, and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis ultrasound features in psoriasis patients.

Marked improvement was reported in the psoriatic skin lesions after thyroidectomy in a couple of articles.

Additionally, the researchers of this review noted that first-line propylthiouracil for hyperthyroidism reportedly clears psoriatic lesions, according to findings in 6-articles. 

Propylthiouracil did not seem to induce clinical hypothyroidism or lead to any hazardous side effects.

The investigators of this review study shows propylthiouracil could be used as alternative therapy for psoriasis patients because of its adverse reactions in comparison to existing treatment options of psoriasis that are toxic as well as expensive.

Specialists also found that a higher prevalence of link up in between psoriasis and thyroid diseases in females was observed in a few of articles. Although, certain articles suggest no sex preference associated in the prevalence of the link up.

This study’s limitations included the small number of articles present for the review and the lack of a pooled meta-analysis of the data.

The researchers concluded that the additional “findings are needed in order to establish a link up in between these diseases due to these findings having a specific impact on the clinical as well as research sides.”

Reference:

https://www.cureus.com/articles/38258-etiological-association-between-psoriasis-and-thyroid-diseases

https://www.dermatologyadvisor.com/home/topics/psoriasis/tie-between-pso-and-thyroid-issues/