Psoriasis Patients Have High Risk of Suffering from Heart Disease

Researchers at University of Pennsylvania have found that people suffering from psoriasis have a heightened risk of developing other conditions including heart, lung and kidney diseases. The researchers observed over 9,000 people suffering from psoriasis with more than half of them suffering from a mild form of the disease, 36 percent having moderate psoriasis and over 12 percent had a severe form of the disease covering more than 10 percent of their skin’s surface area.

The researchers found that people who had psoriasis had increased risk of being diagnosed with a number of conditions including chronic pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes, mild liver disease, heart attacks, peripheral vascular disease, peptic ulcers, kidney disease and other rheumatologic diseases like arthritis. They also found that while all of the patients had increased risk of developing other conditions, the amount of risk was proportionate to how severe their psoriasis was. The study has been published in the journal JAMA Dermatology.

“The burdens of overall medical comorbidity and of specific comorbid diseases increase with increasing disease severity among patients with psoriasis. Physicians should be aware of these associations in providing comprehensive care to patients with psoriasis, especially those presenting with more severe disease”, the researchers wrote in their report.



Source-Medindia