Our research shows that where fat is stored in the body matters when it comes to psoriasis risk. Central fat – especially around the waist – seems to play a key role. This has important implications for how we identify individuals who may be more likely to develop psoriasis or experience more severe disease, and how we approach prevention and treatment strategies.
Dr Ravi Ramessur, Visiting Research Fellow at King’s and lead investigator on the study
27 May 2025
Study finds central body fat more strongly linked to psoriasis risk than overall body fat
New research led by King’s College London has found that fat stored around the abdomen is more strongly linked to psoriasis risk than total body fat, particularly in women. The findings could help to improve early risk prediction and guide personalised prevention strategies for psoriasis.
Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin condition that affects millions of people worldwide and can significantly impact quality of life. While it is well established that increasing levels of body fat raise the risk of developing psoriasis, the study provides new insights into how the location of body fat, rather than just overall body mass, plays a critical role.
Featured in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, published by Elsevier, the research was led by Dr Ravi Ramessur and Professor Catherine Smith from the St John’s Institute of Dermatology in the School of Basic & Medical Biosciences at King’s.
The study analysed data from over 330,000 participants of White British ancestry in the UK Biobank – a large-scale biomedical database – including more than 9,000 individuals with psoriasis. Using a combination of traditional body measurements and advanced imaging techniques, researchers evaluated 25 different measures of body fat to understand how each was associated with psoriasis.
Crucially, the findings show that the link between central fat and psoriasis remained consistent regardless of genetic predisposition, suggesting that abdominal fat is an independent risk factor of psoriasis. As the observed links were stronger in women, the findings point to possible underlying biological mechanisms that require further investigation.
Previous work has shown that people with psoriasis who carry a particular gene variant, called HLA-C06:02, tend to have lower overall body fat. However, our analysis demonstrates that abdominal fat increases psoriasis risk regardless of whether or not people have this gene variant. This suggests that central body fat is a causal risk factor for psoriasis, no matter your genetic background.
Professor Michael Simpson, Professor of Genetics at King’s and co-author of the study
As rates of obesity continue to rise globally, understanding how different patterns of body fat influence chronic inflammatory conditions such as psoriasis is important. Our study reinforces the importance of measuring waist circumference and pro-active healthy weight strategies in psoriasis care.
Professor Catherine Smith, Professor of Dermatology & Therapeutics at King’s and senior author of the study
The researchers note that while the findings provide valuable insights, the study focused on individuals of White British ancestry. Future studies involving datasets with dermatologist-confirmed diagnoses and broader ethnic representation will be important to further validate these associations and improve risk prediction across broader groups.
Read the full paper here.
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