Does childhood psoriasis increase the risk of adverse psychosocial and physical consequences adulthood?
Psoriasis affects 0.5–2% of European children, and in roughly one-third of cases of plaque psoriasis, the disease starts during childhood. Interestingly, recent evidence suggests that the onset of psoriasis in childhood, does not seem to influence either the severity of disease in adulthood, the risk of psoriatic arthritis or cardiovascular disease. On the other hand, nail psoriasis in children does appear to increase the risk of more severe psoriatic disease in later life – including psoriatic arthritis.
Aside from its physical impact, psoriasis in childhood adversely affects quality of life, including participation in sports and recreational activities. It is also associated with several cognitive problems, including attention deficit disorder and – somewhat later – the development of sexual problems and addictions (smoking and excessive alcohol consumption and drug abuse). These observations raise the question of whether early onset psoriasis may negatively affect a young person’s educational development and social/professional outcomes in adulthood.
There is also the separate but related question of whether early-onset psoriasis increases the risk of physical diseases – specifically cardiovascular (heart and circulation) and metabolic (hypertension, diabetes etc) – in adulthood.
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