Gastrointestinal comorbidities in patients with psoriatic arthritis

Comorbidities associated with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) include cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, and obesity. This study evaluated the association between PsA and common gastrointestinal (GI) diseases. A retrospective study was performed in Israel's largest health care provider database between 2002 and 2013. 3161 PsA patients were matched for age and sex with 31610 randomly selected patients. We searched these patients' records for the presence of peptic ulcer disease (PUD), reflux esophagitis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and celiac disease. T-test was used to compare continuous variables and a Chi-square test was used for categorical variables. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to assess the association between PsA and GI comorbidities. PsA was associated with Crohn's disease (OR 2.4, 95 %CI: 1.75-3.32, p < 0.0001), ulcerative colitis (OR 2.1, 95 %CI: 1.33-3.26, p = 0.001), reflux esophagitis (OR 1.6, 95 %CI: 1.44-1.78, p < 0.0001), PUD (OR 1.5, 95 %CI: 1.31-1.63, p < 0.0001) and IBS (OR 1.4, 95 %CI: 1.01-1.86, p = 0.045). After controlling for known risk factors, the association remained significant between PsA and Crohn's disease (OR 2.2, 95 %CI: 1.59-3.03, p < 0.0001), ulcerative colitis (OR 1.9, 95 %CI: 1.21-3.00, p = 0.005), reflux esophagitis (OR 1.5, 95 %CI: 1.31-1.63, p < 0.0001), and PUD (OR 1.3, 95 %CI: 1.12-1.47, p < 0.0001). No significant association was found between PsA and celiac disease. In the current study PsA was associated with gastrointestinal morbidities including Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, PUD and IBS. Physicians treating patients with PsA should be aware of these associations.