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Skin Disease Can Lead To Heart Disease Too!
 

Being a common skin condition that causes skin redness and irritation, psoriasis is an autoimmune disease. It occurs when the immune system mistakes healthy cells as pathogens, and sends out faulty signals to speed up the growth cycle of skin cells. People with psoriasis usually have thick and red skin with flaky and silver-white patches known as scales.

It is a very common disease, and can be seen among people who age between 15 and 35. According to the National Psoriasis Foundation, about 7.5 million Americans have psoriasis. Psoriasis is passed down through families and it is not contagious, meaning people with psoriasis cannot spread it to others.

While scientists have already linked psoriasis to an increased risk of stroke, a recent study have found that people with serious condition of psoriasis are more likely to die of heart disease and stroke than those without the condition. Their results were published online on January 5, 2012 in the ‘American Journal of Cardiology’.

Using records of patients who had undergone coronary angiography (a kind of heart scan), researchers from the University of California, Davis compared the results of patients with and without psoriasis. 204 out of 9,473 patients (2.2 percent), who were included in the analysis, were found to develop psoriasis. These people were more likely to be heavier and have a history of high cholesterol.

On average, 84 percent of patients with psoriasis had coronary artery disease (CAD). CAD is a condition in which the arteries that supply blood to the heart become narrower. On the other hand, only 75 percent of patients who did not have the skin condition had developed CAD. The researchers also found that the risk of heart disease is higher in people who have had psoriasis longer, especially those who had had the condition for more than 8 years.

Though the new study did not prove psoriasis caused heart disease because the increase in risk was not significant and the patients involved came from only one medical center, it was in line with past studies that highlighted a link between heart disease and inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.

For instance, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia reported online on December 27, 2009 in the ‘European Heart Journal’ that people with severe forms of psoriasis were nearly 60 percent more likely to die of heart disease and stroke than those without the condition. Even after accounting for smoking, high blood pressure and diabetes, the risk of death due to these causes was still 57 percent higher.

They also claimed that severe psoriasis was a bigger risk factor for cardiovascular-related death than high blood pressure, and they found that smoking and obesity both can raise psoriasis risk and people with psoriasis were known to be more likely to develop diabetes, which in turn increased heart disease risk.

The study also found that genes that make people susceptible to psoriasis have been linked to heart disease, and the type of inflammation associated with heart- and stroke-related disease is very similar to that involved in psoriasis.

By now, you should know that psoriasis is certainly not a condition that is just limited to the skin, and the skin rash might be a sign indicating there is inflammation inside the body. As such, some health experts advise patients with psoriasis to ensure they get screened for their modifiable cardiovascular risk factors including smoking, blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar levels and body mass index (BMI).

Psoriasis can be treated by 3 commonly means: topical treatment using skin lotions, creams, ointments and shampoos; systemic (or body-wide) treatment using pills or injections; and phototherapy utilizing light. Light treatments and newer biological medicines are available but can be expensive.

In reality, it is up to the doctors to decide the treatment option according to their specialty. Hence, a cardiologist would not treat an inflammatory disease even if it is linked to a heart condition.

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