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Long-term hypertension, use of beta-blockers associated with increased risk of psoriasis

Individuals with long-term hypertension, defined as lasting 6 or more years, and people who have regularly used beta-blockers for a long-term may be at an increased risk of developing psoriasis, according to a study.

To look at the association between hypertension and antihypertensive medications and the risk of developing psoriasis, researchers created a prospective cohort study from the Nurses’ Health Study. Researchers documented 843 psoriasis cases among 77,728 participants during 1,066,339 person-years of follow-up.

History of physician-diagnosed hypertension was assessed at cohort inception in 1976 and updated every 2 years using biennial questionnaires, according to the study.

Women with a prior history of psoriasis were excluded from the analysis.

The study reports that women with hypertension duration of 6 years or more had a higher risk of psoriasis compared with normotensive women.

The researchers found a higher risk of psoriasis among hypertensive women without medication use and among hypertensive women with current medication use when compared with normotensive women without medication use. Beta-blockers were the only medication associated with an increased risk of psoriasis in patients who took them regularly for 6 or more years, according to the study.

“Hypertensive participants with longer disease durations may have a greater possibility of developing psoriasis later because of the long-lasting increased levels of systemic oxidative stress and inflammation,” the researchers wrote.

Disclosures: Qureshi reported serving as a consultant for Abbott, Centocor, Novartis and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.