Fellow
Jennifer Gionah Laborada
University of California Riverside School of Medicine
Mentor
Wynnis Tom, MD
University of California San Diego
Overview
Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease associated with overweight/obesity and increased cardiometabolic risk. One particularly pertinent metabolic comorbidity is non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), the leading cause of chronic liver disease in the developed world. Several studies of adults with psoriasis have demonstrated not only an increased prevalence of NAFLD, but also increased severity of fatty liver disease compared to matched controls without psoriasis.1 Furthermore, presence of NAFLD was associated with psoriasis severity as assessed by the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index.
We propose a multi-center retrospective study examining the clinical, imaging, and histologic findings of NAFLD in children and young adults with concomitant psoriasis, compared to those with NAFLD but without psoriasis. Our inclusion criteria are psoriasis patients up to 21 years of age diagnosed with psoriasis at age ≤18 years who underwent workup for NAFLD at Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego and collaborative centers (Baylor/Texas Children’s, Mayo Clinic, Northwestern, University of Wisconsin, and Seattle Children’s have expressed interest) between January 1, 1990 and March 30, 2021. We will utilize controls from the NIDDK NAFLD Pediatric Database. We hypothesize that psoriasis is associated with increased severity of NAFLD in children, as measured by steatosis and fibrosis.
Specific Aim 1: To better characterize NAFLD disease patterns, symptoms, signs, and severity in the setting of pediatric psoriasis.
Specific Aim 2: To examine if NAFLD severity is related to characteristics of psoriasis, such as duration and severity of skin disease, and the effect of systemic therapies administered for psoriasis.
Status
This project was funded through a 2021 PeDRA Research Fellowship Grant.
