Patients with psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis sometimes develop clinically significant diffuse parenchymal lung disease (DPLD), despite previous thinking that this complication of connective tissue disease (CTD) rarely occurs in this population, according to a study published in Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine.

The investigators assessed the pathology of 44 patients (50% women, median age, 60) with psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis and DPLD. The results found that over half of patients (61%) had psoriatic arthritis, with the remainder having only psoriasis. The researchers observed almost one-third of patients had not previously undergone immunosuppression, and they noted that the majority of patients had no concomitant CTD. Overall, the histopathological findings mirrored those of other CTDs. The researchers believed that additional studies are needed to elucidate the link between psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis and DPLD.

Reference: Butt YM, Smith ML, Tazelaar HD, Roden AC, Mengoli MC, Larsen BT. Surgical pathology of diffuse parenchymal lung disease in patients with psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis [published online ahead of print, 2022 Aug 2]. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2022;10.5858/arpa.2021-0616-OA. doi:10.5858/arpa.2021-0616-OA

Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35917487/