An 'invisible disease' that half a million people live with in the United Kingdom could be caused by a scaly skin condition that three percent of the world's population have.
Known as psoriasis, the skin condition is something that millions suffer with around the world. A grand total of 125 million people are thought to have it on the planet.
A non-contagious disease, it causes inflamed scaly patches of skin across a person's body. It can be painful depending on how chronic the condition is for someone who has it, with it causing itchy, dry patches that can bleed.
Now, a new study has linked the skin condition to an invisible disease that half a million Brits have.
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Psoriasis study explained
The study has been published following new research at Uppsala University in Sweden.
Leading the study was researcher Maria Lampinen, from the university's Department of Pharmacy, who said: "Previous research has also shown that people with psoriasis have more gastrointestinal problems than the general population.
"However we didn’t know much about why this is the case. With our study, we can now show that people with psoriasis often have invisible inflammation in their small intestines, with an increased risk of what’s called leaky gut."
A link between Crohn's disease and psoriasis? (Getty Stock Images)
What is a 'leaky gut'?
The study found that people with the skin condition psoriasis often have invisible inflammation in the small intestine with an increased propensity for 'leaky gut'.
According to Cleveland Clinic, leaky gut is 'based on the concept of increased intestinal permeability [allowing toxins and other substances to pass through], which occurs in some gastrointestinal diseases'.
Having a leaky gut means people are more prone to bacteria and harmful substances leaking through the intestinal barrier and causing inflammation.
The research states that these changes in the gut could explain why psoriasis sufferers often have gastrointestinal problems and are more prone to developing an 'invisible' disease; something known as Crohn’s disease.
What is Crohn's disease?
Suffered by half a million people in the UK, it is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease causing inflammation in a person's digestive tract. Given it is an autoimmune disorder, it means it is a condition whereby the body's immune system attacks itself.
Symptoms include abdominal pain and cramps; diarrhoea, sometimes with blood or mucus; weight loss; fever; anemia; joint pain; sore, red eyes; and mouth ulcers.
The study involved 18 patients with psoriasis and 15 healthy controls as subjects. None of these people had been diagnosed with gastrointestinal diseases. Samples were taken from both their small and large bowel before researchers studied different types of immune cells in the mucous membrane.
Lampinen said: “It turned out that psoriasis sufferers had higher numbers of certain types of immune cells in their small intestine, and the cells showed signs of pro-inflammatory activity. Interestingly, we found the same type of immune cells in skin flare-ups from psoriasis patients, suggesting that the inflammation of the skin may have an impact on the gut, or vice versa."
Half of the psoriasis patients in the study had increased intestinal barrier permeability or leaky gut.
She added: "Given that the psoriasis patients in our study had relatively mild skin disease and showed no visible intestinal inflammation in a gastroscopy, they had surprisingly clear changes in their small intestine compared to healthy controls. These changes could explain why psoriasis sufferers often have gastrointestinal problems, and an increased risk of developing Crohn’s disease."
Topics: Health, Education, Science, World News
Tom Earnshaw