Psoriasis and coeliac disease; is there any relationship?

© 2010 The Authors. doi: 10.2340/00015555-0829 Journal Compilation © 2010 Acta Dermato-Venereologica. ISSN 0001-5555 Coeliac disease (CD) is a common chronic immunemediated gluten-dependent enteropathy with a prevalence of 1 in 104 individuals in Iran (1). CD is characterized by intestinal malabsorbtion and subtotal or total atrophy of intestinal villi, which improves with a gluten-free diet (GFD) (2). Psoriasis is a chronic, relapsing dermatosis characterized by scaling, erythema and, to a lesser extent, pustulation. Immune mechanisms play an important role in the pathogenesis of psoriasis (3). Structural and functional abnormalities in the gastrointestinal tract, such as degenerative and dystrophic changes in epithelial cells and inflammatory stromal infiltration of the gastric and duodenal mucosa, have been identified in psoriatic patients (4, 5). Studies have demonstrated an association between CD and psoriasis (6–9) and an improvement in skin lesions after 3–6 months of GFD, without other pharmacological approaches (10, 11). However, the relationship between CD and psoriasis is unknown due to the paucity of studies, which are mostly confined to case series reporting coincidence of the two conditions. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of CD in Iranian psoriatic patients.