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Prevalence of metabolic syndrome doubled for people with psoriasis

Love TJ. Arch Dermatol. 2010;doi:10.1001/archdermatol.2010.270.

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New research links metabolic syndrome with psoriasis in US adults.

Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-2006, Thorvardur Jon Love, MD, of Landspitali University Hospital, Reykjavik, Iceland, and colleagues examined the association between psoriasis and metabolic syndrome. The study included 6,549 individuals (mean age, 39 years; mean BMI, 28).

Previous data have suggested a link between psoriasis and individual components of the metabolic syndrome; however, little data exist regarding the association between psoriasis and metabolic syndrome as a whole.

In this study, 40% of participants with psoriasis also had features of metabolic syndrome compared with 23% of a control cohort.

“These findings … show a doubling in the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome among patients with psoriasis independent of age, sex, race/ethnicity and C-reactive protein levels,” Love and colleagues wrote in the study.

Abdominal obesity (63%) was the most common feature of the metabolic syndrome among individuals with psoriasis, followed by elevated triglycerides (44%) and low HDL (34%). Twenty-eight percent of participants without psoriasis had no elements of the metabolic syndrome compared with 13% of those with psoriasis.

In addition, the researchers projected that 2.7 million US adults with psoriasis aged 20 to 59 years also have metabolic syndrome, according to 2008 US Census data. This is “nearly a million more individuals than would be expected from individuals without psoriasis,” the researchers said.

Metabolic syndrome was classified using the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III definition.

“Given the serious complications associated with the metabolic syndrome, this frequent comorbidity should be recognized and taken into account in the long-term treatment of individuals with psoriasis,” the researchers wrote. They added that a diagnosis of psoriasis “should trigger” suspicion for potential coexistence of metabolic syndrome.

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