Association of Helicobacter pylori Infection With the Severity of Psoriasis

Background: Psoriasis is an inflammatory, immune-mediated disease with a multifactorial etiopathogenesis and a wide spectrum of clinical presentation.It has been proposed that Helicobacter pylori (H.pylori) infection acts as a possible etiological factor for psoriasis.Methods: Twenty-nine patients diagnosed with psoriasis were included in Group A, and an equal number of non-psoriatic individuals were included in Group B based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria.Psoriasis severity was assessed using the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) score.Results: The epidemiological profile showed no significant differences in age or sex between patients and healthy individuals (age p=0.480; sex p=0.597).Among psoriasis patients, 23 (79.3%) had the disease for less than 10 years, and the mean disease duration was 4.76 ± 4.78 years (range: one to 20 years).A significant association was found between H. pylori infection and psoriasis, with nine (31.0%) of psoriasis patients testing positive for H. pylori stool antigen compared to only two (6.9%) in controls (p=0.019).Conclusion: H. pylori infection has a significant association with the severity of psoriasis.This finding highlights a probable role of bacterial infection in exacerbating immune-mediated skin conditions.Therefore, it can be proposed that psoriasis patients with high PASI scores may be screened for H. pylori infection by a fecal antigen test.