Introduction: The main pathogenesis of psoriasis is mediated by T helper 1 and 17 cells. In contrast, asthma is known to be mainly mediated by T helper 2 cells. However, the relationship of these two conditions has not been elucidated sufficiently.

Objectives: To evaluate the association between psoriasis and asthma in the adult general population of United States.

Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study used the data of the 5,758 subjects aged 20 years or older who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2013-2014. Using logistic regression analyses, we estimated the odds ratio of asthma according to psoriasis.

Results: The proportion of the participants who had been told as having asthma was 32.1% in those with psoriasis, but it was 14.8% in those without psoriasis. The odds of asthma was significantly higher in subjects with psoriasis compared to those without psoriasis (odds ratio 2.75 [95% confidence interval 1.93 – 3.88], p-value <0.001).

Conclusions: These results suggest that psoriasis may be associated with asthma in the adults despite the differences in the inflammatory process in the pathogenesis. Further investigations will be necessary to elucidate the mechanisms underlying this association between the two conditions.