Vitamine b12 levels in psoriasis patients

Psoriasis is a chronic and recurrent inflammatory skin disease characterized by erythematous plaques, affecting 1-5% of the general population. Psoriasis is considered to be a T cell mediated inflammatory skin disease characterized by hyperproliferation and poor differentiation of epidermal keratinocytes. Although the predisposition to psoriasis is related to heredity, the disease is also affected by environmental factors such as infection and stress. It has been suggested that the diet plays a role in the etiology and pathogenesis of psoriasis. Vitamin B12 is required for DNA synthesis and cellular energy production. Vitamin B12 deficiency is common, especially because of the limited intake of animal originated food or vitamin absorption. The aim of this study is to evaluate the levels of vitamin B12 in patients with psoriasis compared with the control group. In this study, 88 patients with psoriasis who were admitted to the Psoriasis outpatient clinic of Bezmialem Vakif University Medical Faculty between 01.02.2018 - 01.04.2018 and who were asked for vitamin B12 levels were diagnosed retrospectively and accepted as the patient group. During the same period, 72 age and sex matched individuals who were were applied to other policlinics were accepted as control group. There was no statistically significant difference between control group and psoriasis group according to Mann Whitney U non-parametric test (p = 0.092). However, patients with psoriasis were found to be younger than healthy controls (p = 0.001). The mean age of the patients with psoriasis was lower. There was also no difference between gender and vitamin B12 levels. The investigation of the correlation of these values with the psoriasis area severity index (PASI) in future studies may be a predictor for the evaluation of the severity of the disease by evaluating at the levels of vitamin B12 in the control and patient group even if there is no difference between vitamin B12 levels. Keywords: Psoriasis, vitamin B12, the relationship between psoriasis and vitamin B12