Inheritance of Psoriasis in a Utah Kindred

Abstract

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disorder of unknown etiology and inconstant course which constitutes about 6% of all new skin cases seen by dermatologists. 1 Of interest is the association of arthritis and psoriasis. This arthritis is characterized by absorptive phenomena usually of peripheral joints and has been considered to be a distinct form of joint disease. 2,3 The familial occurrence of psoriasis is well known and studies have described the inheritance as recessive, double recessive, and irregular dominant. Schamberg 4 reviewed 592 patients with psoriasis and reported a family occurrence of 13%. He concluded that there was no satisfactory evidence for genetic transmission of this disease. Steinberg et al. 5 examined 464 patients with psoriasis. The disease was present among the patient's siblings 4 times as often when one parent had psoriasis as when neither parent was affected. Six per cent of the patient's parents had psoriasis. Because