Psoriasis linked to obesity in US

Weight issues likely for children with psoriasis London - Agencies Children with the skin disease psoriasis are about twice as likely to be overweight or obese as children who don't have the disease, US researchers have said. Lead author Dr Amy Paller of Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine and paediatric dermatologist at the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago said US children with psoriasis have much higher odds than psoriatic children in other countries of being obese or overweight. The study, published in the Archives of Dermatology, found American children with psoriasis had four times the odds of being overweight or obese as healthy controls. "Within this US population, Hispanics and African-American children had significantly greater rates of being obese and overweight than whites and Asians," authors wrote in the study. "The odd ratio of being obese was particularly high for US children with more severe psoriasis."