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. 2020 Mar;82(3):661-665.
doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2019.08.007. Epub 2019 Aug 9.

Gluten intake and risk of psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and atopic dermatitis among United States women

Aaron M Drucker  1 , Abrar A Qureshi  2 , Jordan M Thompson  3 , Tricia Li  4 , Eunyoung Cho  5
Affiliations

Gluten intake and risk of psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and atopic dermatitis among United States women

Aaron M Drucker et al. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2020 Mar.

Abstract

Background: Associations between gluten intake and psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and atopic dermatitis are poorly understood.

Objective: To determine whether increased gluten intake is associated with incident psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and atopic dermatitis.

Methods: Cohort studies among women in Nurses' Health Study II. Food frequency questionnaires were used to calculate gluten content of participants' diet every 4 years (1991-2015 for psoriatic disease, 1995-2013 for atopic dermatitis). Disease outcomes were assessed by self-report and subsequently validated. Multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards models were used to calculate hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals for the association between gluten intake (quintiles) and psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and atopic dermatitis.

Results: We included 85,185 participants in the psoriasis analysis, 85,324 in the psoriatic arthritis analysis, and 63,443 in the atopic dermatitis analysis. Increased gluten intake was not associated with any of the outcomes (all P for trend >.05). Comparing highest and lowest gluten intake quintiles, the multivariable hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) were 1.15 (0.98-1.36) for psoriasis, 1.12 (0.78-1.62) for psoriatic arthritis, and 0.91 (0.66-1.25) for atopic dermatitis.

Limitations: No assessment of a strictly gluten-free diet.

Conclusions: Our findings do not support the amount of dietary gluten intake as a risk factor for psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, or atopic dermatitis in adult women.

Keywords: atopic dermatitis; diet; gluten; psoriasis; psoriatic arthritis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest: In the last three years, Dr. Drucker has served as an investigator and has received research funding from Sanofi and Regeneron and has been a consultant for Sanofi, RTI Health Solutions, Eczema Society of Canada and Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technology in Health. He has received honoraria from Prime Inc, Spire Learning, CME Outfitters, Eczema Society of Canada and the Canadian Dermatology Association. His institution has received educational grants from Sanofi and Abbvie. Dr. Qureshi reports personal fees from AbbVie, Amgen, CDC, Janssen, Pfizer, Novartis as a Consultant, personal fees from Regeneron and Sanofi as an Investigator. All honoraria are donated to charity. The other authors do not report any recent or relevant disclosures.

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