Effects of Weight Loss on Psoriasis: A Review of Clinical Trials

Abstract

Psoriasis is a chronic autoimmune disease that affects the skin and joints. It typically presents as abnormal skin patches characterized by red, scaly, and very itchy spots. It affects patients in different manners with different severities ranging from small spots or spots that cover a larger area of the skin. Due to the negative impact psoriasis has on the quality of life, many patients are exploring other options that can help improve their symptoms. Among those is weight reduction. This review is aimed at providing an overview of the published clinical literature to give physicians an indication of what the answer could be. Moreover, since obesity is correlated with psoriasis vulgaris it is thus also the subject of investigation in this review. This is a literature review conducted to answer the following question: what are the effects of weight loss on the degree of plaque psoriasis recorded in clinical trials published from 1990 to December 2017. The objective of this study is to find the relationship between the severity of psoriasis and weight. Ten clinical trials met the inclusion criteria of this review and were included in the final analysis. Diet and exercise are worthy of consideration as adjunct treatments for psoriasis. Diet and exercise improve the overall health of the patients, are effective in combating oxidative stressors, and also show a positive impact on the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) scores of patients with psoriasis.

Keywords: diet; exercise; immunotherapy; obesity; psoriasis; weight loss.