The Psoriasis-Fitness Connection
In a large-scale study, those with lowest levels of fitness were most likely to get psoriasis.
In a register-based study of over 1.2 million males, young men with the lowest fitness levels had a 35% higher risk of developing psoriasis than those with the highest fitness levels.
Psoriasis is a chronic, systemic inflammatory disease that—in the case of plaque psoriasis—can cause reddened, flaking and itchy skin lesions. Causes are not entirely known, but heredity is believed to play a role.
Lead study author Marta Laskowski, PhD candidate at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, said, “Low fitness was already known to boost the risk of incurring cardiovascular disease, and psoriasis as such is linked to raised cardiovascular disease risk, too. The results from our study confirm the reasons for assessing people’s fitness early in life, to identify individuals at a higher risk for adverse health outcomes later in life.”
Researchers from the University of Gothenburg used a database of men who were conscripted at age 18 into the Swedish Armed Forces between 1968 and 2005. The investigators merged fitness data with data from other patient registers in Sweden’s National Patient Register to determine the incidence of psoriasis. They excluded men with psoriasis at the time of conscription.
Find the research in PLOS ONE (2021; doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0243348).
See also: The Food-Inflammation Connection
Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA
Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA, is an internationally acknowledged integrative health and mindfulness specialist, best-selling author of 16 fitness and wellness books translated into multiple languages and sold worldwide, award-winning health journalist, contributing editor to Fitness Journal, media spokesperson, and IDEA's 2008 Fitness Instructor of the Year. She's a 25-year industry veteran and former health and fitness educator at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, who has served on multiple industry committees and co-authored trade books and manuals for ACE, ACSM and YMCA of the USA. She has appeared on TV worldwide and was a featured trainer on America's Next Top Model.
