(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Women with psoriasis, a chronic inflammatory skin
disease, appear to have an increased risk for developing diabetes and high blood
pressure, Harvard researchers said.
In a study involving more than 78,000 women who were followed for 14 years,
those with psoriasis were 63 percent more likely to develop diabetes and 17
percent more likely to develop high blood pressure than those without the skin
disease.
Other recent studies have also linked psoriasis, which affects between 1 percent
and 3 percent of the population, with an increased risk of other illnesses and
death.
The researchers said the inflammation associated with psoriasis could explain
the associations between psoriasis and hypertension and diabetes. Inflammation
is a known risk factor for high blood pressure and may also contribute to
insulin resistance, a pre-diabetic stage where the body does not respond to
glucose-regulating hormone insulin, the study's authors said.
They said their findings illustrate the importance of considering psoriasis a
systemic disorder rather than simply a skin disease and future studies should
investigate whether psoriasis therapies can reduce the risk for diabetes and
high blood pressure.
SOURCE: Archives of Dermatology, 2009;145:379-382
