PSORIASIS LINKED TO OTHER MEDICAL CONDITIONS

More than Skin Deep: Psoriasis Linked to Type 2 Diabetes Risk

Psoriasis may be a risk factor for Type 2 diabetes, new research suggests.
The study, which appears online in the Archives of Dermatology, adds to a growing body of evidence that suggests psoriasis is not just skin deep. The inflammatory skin condition has been linked to heart disease, stroke, and some cancers.
Among 108,132 patients with psoriasis with 430,716 patients without psoriasis, risk of developing type 2 diabetes among 1,000 patients with psoriasis per year is 0.9 extra cases overall. Specifically, there will be 0.7 extra cases of diabetes in those with mild psoriasis, and 3.0 cases in those with severe psoriasis, the study showed.
The study also looked at whether patients with diabetes and psoriasis were more likely to receive prescription medication for diabetes. There were no difference in the use of oral hypoglycemic agents or insulin among patients with mild psoriasis. Patients with severe psoriasis, however, were more likely to be prescribed oral hypoglycemic agents and had a trend toward being more likely to be prescribed insulin, the study showed.
“The data from this study suggest that psoriasis is a risk factor for the development of [Type 2 diabetes] and that this relationship is dose dependent, with severe psoriasis conferring a higher risk than mild psoriasis,” the authors write. “Mechanistically, this relationship may be driven by chronic inflammation because both psoriasis and [type 2 diabetes] are associated with elevated levels of TH1-driven inflammatory markers, and because several studies have pointed to endogenous insulin resistance in patients with psoriasis.”
[Source: Archives of Dermatology]