Elena Pezzolo, M.D., from Erasmus Medical Center University Medical Center in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and colleagues compared cognition, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) markers, and dementia risk in 318 patients with psoriasis and 9,678 patients without psoriasis in models adjusted for age, sex, education, and cardiovascular risk factors.

The researchers observed no significant difference between those with and without psoriasis in cognitive test scores and volumetric, microstructural, and focal measures on brain MRI; furthermore, psoriasis was not associated with mild cognitive impairment (adjusted odds ratio, 0.87; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.53 to 1.43). Overall, there were 810 incident dementia cases during 115,000 person-years of follow-up (15 among psoriasis patients). Psoriasis correlated with a lower risk for developing dementia after adjustment for confounders (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.50; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.28 to 0.91).

"Preclinical markers of dementia are comparable between psoriasis and nonpsoriasis participants," the authors write. "The first results related to dementia show no increased and perhaps even a protective effect of psoriasis on dementia risk, although ongoing follow-up in the Rotterdam Study will allow us to more accurately investigate the final outcome of dementia."

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