About 10 percent of patients with psoriasis have a high risk for advanced liver fibrosis, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis published online Dec. 15 in Frontiers in Medicine .

Tanat Yongpisarn, from Mahidol University in Bangkok, and colleagues examined the prevalence of psoriasis patients who have a high or low risk for advanced liver fibrosis and examined risk factors for liver fibrosis using data from observational studies identified from a systematic literature review.

The researchers found that the pooled prevalence was 9.66 percent for patients with psoriasis at high risk for advanced liver fibrosis, while the pooled prevalence was 77.79 percent for patients at low risk for advanced liver fibrosis. The prevalence of advanced liver fibrosis was lower in studies that recruited methotrexate-naive patients versus methotrexate-user cohorts (4.44 versus 12.25 percent). For age older than 50 years, body mass index >30 kg/m², diabetes mellitus, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and metabolic syndrome, the pooled odds ratios were 2.20, 3.67, 6.23, 2.82, 3.08, and 5.98, respectively.

"In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we discover that 9.66 percent of people with psoriasis are at high risk of having advanced liver fibrosis, necessitating further investigation and management. While 77.79 percent of the population is considered low risk, the remaining 22.21 percent requires further testing," the authors write. "We hope to inform practitioners and future researchers about the high prevalence of advanced liver fibrosis in psoriasis patients, as well as the critical need for liver fibrosis screening."

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