A significant minority of patients with psoriasis consumes excessive alcohol. Patients with psoriasis should be assessed for excessive alcohol use and appropriate interventions initiated. Further studies are required to investigate whether such interventions are effective in combating alcohol abuse and in improving the psychological and physical aspects of psoriasis.

This study shows that patients with psoriasis, and in particular those whose disease appears to be stress responsive, exhibit an altered HPA response to acute social stress. The implication is that such patients may perhaps be primed to flares of their psoriasis. Whether this is genetically predetermined and/or a consequence of the distress of living with psoriasis remains to be determined.