A new study published in the American journal JAMA Dermatology shows that patients with moderate to severe psoriasis more often have uncontrolled hypertension compared to people who do not suffer from psoriasis.
Psoriasis is an inflammatory skin disease that affects 2-4% of the population.
Metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure, obesity and other cardiovascular risks occur in patients with psoriasis more often than in the general population.
In recent years, there has been a growing number of evidence linking severe psoriasis with an increased risk of myocardial infarction, stroke and death as a result of heart failure. High blood pressure is recognized as a risk factor for heart failure, but the association of HF with psoriasis is not well understood.
The authors of the last study, the staff of the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, USA), decided to find out how the severity of psoriasis affects the blood pressure level.
They used a large British cohort of patients from The Health Improvement Network, which represented various ethnic and social groups of British society. A total of 1,322 medical records of patients with psoriasis and at the same time hypertension, as well as 11,977 histories of patients with hypertension but not psoriasis.
The results showed a linear relationship between the indices of blood pressure and the severity of psoriasis. This means that the more severe the skin disease, the higher the likelihood of uncontrolled hypertension. Uncontrolled hypertension was defined by scientists as systolic pressure above 140 mm. ppm. art.. or diastolic pressure higher than 90 mm. ppm. art.. , measured in clinical conditions.
The authors write: "Given the limited understanding of the impact of concomitant diseases on arterial hypertension by science, our results are of great clinical importance. They suggest that patients with psoriasis need a more effective control of blood pressure, especially when it comes to severe psoriasis (affecting 3% of the body surface and more). ".
What factors could affect the results?.
Factors such as age, sex, body mass index, smoking, drinking alcohol, other diseases (diabetes, heart disease and kidney disease) could affect the results of this study. All of them were taken into account by scientists.
Since the sample was large enough and representative, the researchers are sure that the results of the work can be transferred to the general population. Nevertheless, this type of research does not allow to prove the causal relationship between severe psoriasis and uncontrolled hypertension.
Another important limitation may be that scientists established the fact of uncontrolled arterial pressure on the basis of one change in blood pressure, and not on the basis of a series of measurements conducted at different times. Thus, in some cases errors are not excluded.
I wonder one more thing.
According to scientists, the same percentage of participants with psoriasis and without it receives drugs from hypertension, that is, the presence of psoriasis does not affect this very important point. They could not explain this fact.
The authors say that further research into the relationship between chronic inflammatory and cardiovascular diseases requires additional studies. It is important to find mechanisms that connect inflammation and high blood pressure - this will help better control hypertension in patients with psoriasis.
medbe. en.