Young adults who find it harder to cope with stress are more likely to develop psoriasis later in life. Low stress resilience when enlisting for military service involves a 31% higher risk of developing psoriasis compared to high stress resilience. This has been shown by a large register-based study at the University of Gothenburg.
The study is based on data from more than 1.6 million Swedish men who enlisted for military service between 1968 and 2005. As part of the enlistment process, all the men underwent psychological assessment in accordance with the same strict template.
Based on this assessment, the researchers divided up the data on the men’s stress resilience into three levels. A fifth (20.4%) of those who enlisted were placed in the lowest group, and a further fifth (21.
5%) were placed in the highest group. More than half were therefore placed in the intermediate group. Data relating to the men was then cross-checked with other registers.
The National Patient Register was used to obtain the diagnosis codes for psoriasis and the joint disease psoriatic arthritis. Around 36,000 of the men developed psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis later in life. Low stress resilience in men involves a 31% higher risk of developing psoriasis compared to high stress resilience.
More severe cases of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis were also found to be particularly clearly linked to stress. For in-patient diagnoses, low stress resilience meant a 79% higher risk of psoriasis and a 53%.