Individual having the chronic skin condition psoriasis could be more prone to develop type 2 diabetes, revealed a study of medical statistics of more than half a millions of people from UK. Psoriasis, which is typified by itchy, painful plaques on the skin and the condition, is associated with higher risk of having cardiovascular disease or suffering a heart attack or stroke.
People with severe psoriasis were forty-six percent more prone to get a diabetes diagnosis compared to people without the condition, after considering various factors such as weight and other health gauges. A team led by Dr Rahat Azfar from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, examined five year electronic medical records of about hundred thousand adults in the UK with psoriasis and people without the condition.
At the start of study none of adults had diabetes. But, they found that more adults in psoriasis group were diagnosed with diabetes over the course of the study, with nearly four percent were diagnosed with diabetes than three and half percent in the placebo group. When, researchers taken into account patients’ age, weight and high blood pressure, psoriasis was still associated with higher chances of developing diabetes.
More than six percent of patients with severe psoriasis were diagnosed with diabetes. The body-wide inflammation that is seen both in people with psoriasis and type 2 diabetes could elucidate the link between the two conditions. Dr Azfar stated it is already known that some of the risk factors for psoriasis and diabetes are similar, such as weight.
But with the new findings, they think that psoriasis itself makes people at higher risk. Means people with psoriasis, especially severe psoriasis, should take extra precautions to eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly to ward off diabetes. Psoriasis may induce that chronic inflammation through changes in the bloodstream, thus upping the risk of diabetes, added Dr Azfar.
The study was published online in the Archives of Dermatology.