Psoriasis may increase the risk of lung cancer

[Fred]

This study suggests people with psoriasis could be at higher risk of lung cancer.

Quote:

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Background:
Although many studies have indicated that Psoriasis (PsO) could contribute to the risk of lung cancer, no study has reported a clear causal association between them. Our aim was to explore the potential causal association between PsO and the lung cancer risk using Mendelian randomization (MR) design.

Methods:
To explore a causal association between the PsO and lung cancer, we used large-scale genetic summary data from genome-wide association study (GWAS), including PsO (n=337159) and lung cancer (n=361586), based on previous observational studies. Our main analyses were conducted by inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method with random-effects model, with a complementary with the other two analyses: weighted median method and MR-Egger approach.

Results:
The results of IVW methods demonstrated that genetically predicted PsO was significantly associated with higher odds of lung cancer, with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.06 (95%CI, 1.01-1.12; P=0.02). Weighted median method and MR-Egger regression also demonstrated directionally similar results (All P<0.05). In addition, both funnel plots and MR-Egger intercepts indicated no directional pleiotropic effects between PsO and lung cancer.

Conclusions:
Our study provided potential evidence between genetically predicted PsO and lung cancer, which suggested that enhanced screening for lung cancer allows early detection of lung cancer.

Source: onlinelibrary.wiley.com

*Early view funding unknown

[Caroline]

1. I don’t know anyone with Psoriasis AND lung-cancer

2. In addition, both funnel plots and MR-Egger intercepts indicated no directional pleiotropic effects between PsO and lung cancer.
This shows that there is NO genetic relationship. That means that the outcome of this research:
“Our study provided potential evidence between genetically predicted PsO and lung cancer, which suggested that enhanced screening for lung cancer allows early detection of lung cancer.”
3. Is a purely statistic relationship.
4. It is “potential”
5. You can prove anything with statistics…. Like in the rules:

- there are lies
- there are damned lies
- and there is statistics..