Psoriasis could lead to high BP

Patients with severe psoriasis - a common skin disease - are more likely to have uncontrolled hypertension, found a study.

The researchers defined uncontrolled hypertension as blood pressure measured to be at least 140/90 mm Hg.

Additional findings indicated that there is a significant dose-response relationship, meaning that the likelihood of uncontrolled hypertension increases with greater psoriasis severity.

The patients with the highest risk of having uncontrolled blood pressure, are those with moderate to severe psoriasis, which is defined as having at least three percent of one's body surface affected by the disease, the findings showed.

"To our knowledge, ours is the first study to evaluate the effect of objectively determined psoriasis severity on blood pressure control," said co-first author on the study Junko Takeshita from the University of Pennsylvania in the US.

The researchers examined data from a random sample of psoriasis patients included in The Health Improvement Network (THIN), an electronic medical database based in Britain.

"Over the last several years, studies have shown that psoriasis, specifically severe psoriasis, is an independent risk factor for a variety of comorbidities, putting patients suffering with this common skin disease at an increased risk of other conditions such as heart attack and stroke," Takeshita added.

"Knowing that psoriasis is tied to other health conditions, it's vital that we have a better understanding of the systemic effects it has on other areas of the body so that we can more closely monitor these patients and provide better and preventative care" Takeshita concluded.

The findings appeared in the journal JAMA Dermatology.