FROM ARTHRITIS CARE & RESEARCH
Researchers have discovered further evidence of paternal transmission bias in psoriatic disease, according to a study published in Arthritis Care & Research.
Significantly more individuals with a first-degree relative affected with psoriatic disease reported an affected father (57%), compared with an affected mother (43%). Self-reported family history was obtained from 849 Canadian adults who reported a first-degree relative affected with either cutaneous psoriasis without arthritis (PsC) or psoriatic arthritis (PsA). A total of 532 (63%) reported an affected parent, and 23 probands reported that both parents were affected. The researchers found significantly more fathers with psoriatic disease than mothers: 289 (57%) of 509 discordant pairs vs. 220 (43%) of 509 discordant pairs, respectively (P = .003).
The paternal transmission bias did not reach statistical significance in PsC probands (P = .20), but the proportion of paternal PsC–proband PsA pairs (161 [75%] of 214 paternal transmissions) was significantly larger (P = .02) than maternal PsC–proband PsA pairs (103 [64%] of 161 maternal transmissions).
“If PsA is considered a more severe form of psoriatic disease than PsC alone, this finding suggests that there is a greater chance of an increase in disease severity when psoriatic disease is transmitted by an affected male compared to an affected female,” wrote the investigators, led by Remy A. Pollock of Toronto Western Hospital.
Read the full article here: (Arthritis Care Res. 2015 [doi:10.1002/acr.22625]).
