Association of Telomere Length with Risk of Atopic Dermatitis and Psoriasis

Background: Leucocyte telomere length (LTL) is associated with multiple immune-mediated inflammatory diseases. The potential influences of LTL on atopic dermatitis (AD) and psoriasis have not been clarified. Objective: To explore the associations of LTL with AD and psoriasis and the potential differences between AD and psoriasis. Methods: This multicenter, community-based cohort study was based on United Kingdom Biobank (UK Biobank), which was conducted from March 2006 to December 2010 included longitudinal follow-up for more than 500,000 participants. The data were analyzed in 2024 by a prospective study. Exposure was LTL, main outcomes were AD and psoriasis. Models were adjusted for confounding factors including age, sex, ethnicity, BMI, smoking status, pack years of smoking, alcohol frequency, C-reactive protein, platelet, diabetes, cancer, Vascular/heart problems, Number of treatments/medications taken, Townsend deprivation index, average total household income before tax, college education, white blood cell count, Neutrophil count, Lymphocyte count and IPAQ activity group. Results: In a prospective study, individuals with a pre-existing psoriasis diagnosis were excluded, resulting in a study population of 412,677 participants. During the follow-up, 4,136 participants developed atopic dermatitis (AD) and 5,153 developed psoriasis (PsO). Participants in the lowest telomere length (LTL) quartile had a significantly higher risk of AD and PsO. Univariate analyses indicated that an increase in telomere length by one standard deviation (SD) was associated with reduced prevalence of AD (HR 0.94, 95%CI 0.91-0.97; P<0.05) and PsO (HR 0.92, 95%CI 0.89-0.95; P<0.05). These results remained significant after adjustment for multiple covariates such as age, sex and body mass index. Conclusions: The cohort study identified that Shorter LTL was associated with an increased risk of psoriasis.