Hematological parameters can be used to assess psoriasis severity ‘to some extent’

Hematological parameters such as blood and platelet counts may have some utility in stratifying psoriasis patients by disease severity, according to recent findings.

“Psoriasis is a chronic, inflammatory skin condition that is growing in prevalence globally,” Safina Nageen, MBBS, of the department of dermatology at Benazir Bhutto Hospital in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, and colleagues wrote. “Routinely available options to assess psoriasis severity and progression are limited.”

Nageen and colleagues assessed the utility of complete blood count components to meet the unmet need of disease severity assessment. The cross-sectional study investigated platelet count, mean platelet volume (MPV) and red cell distribution width (RDW) as potential hematological markers of psoriasis severity.

There were 120 patients with psoriasis evaluated in the data set. Protocols called for patients to be assessed using the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index score to see if there was a correlation with the blood parameters.

Results showed that total platelet count was significantly lower in patients with an elevated PASI score (Pearson correlation coefficient [r] = –0.224; P = .014).

However, the researchers observed no correlation between PASI score and the other two parameters, including MPV (r = 0.015) and RDW (r = –0.09).

Looking deeper into the findings, the group also stratified patients by age, duration of disease, sex and body parts involved and found some moderate correlations between PASI score and blood parameters.

For example, in one study, MPV positively correlated with PASI score in men but not women. In another study, RDW demonstrated a strong negative correlation with PASI score in patients aged younger than 50 years.

The researchers concluded that the hematological parameters that underwent analysis can have utility in identifying psoriasis severity “to some extent.”

“We foresee the use of RDW, MPV, and platelet count biomarkers as a complement to the PASI score in assessing severity for psoriasis patients, while also as a gauge for likelihood of developing comorbidities such as cardiovascular disease,” they wrote.