Researchers at Seoul St.Mary’s Hospital have found that the risk of developing psoriasis increases when patients have metabolic syndrome.
The team, led by Professor Lee Ji-yeon of the Department of Dermatology, concluded so after analyzing the National Health Insurance Service data on 5,644,324 adults who underwent health checkups from 2009 to 2012.
The team divided the adults into four groups -- those without metabolic syndrome, those diagnosed with metabolic syndrome early but later cleared (diagnosed in 2009, non-diagnosed in 2012), those diagnosed with metabolic syndrome late (not diagnosed in 2009, diagnosed in 2012), and those with metabolic syndrome (diagnosed from 2009 to 2012).
As a result of the study, compared to the group without metabolic syndrome, the risk of developing psoriasis was 1.08 times higher in those diagnosed with post-diagnosis metabolic syndrome late and 1.11 times in those with continuous metabolic syndrome.
“The study focuses on changes in the metabolic syndrome component of psoriasis risk and may help better to understand the link between psoriasis and metabolic syndrome,” Professor Lee said. “Since the risk of psoriasis was higher when metabolic syndrome persists or worsens compared to those without metabolic syndrome, it is important for psoriasis patients to manage metabolic syndrome risk factors well.”
Metabolic syndrome is a case of having three or more factors that increase the risk of diabetes or cardiovascular disease, including hypertension, hyperglycemia, hypertriglyceridemia, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterolemia, and central obesity.
Psoriasis is a representative chronic inflammatory skin disease, with a prevalence of about 3 percent worldwide, with more than 160,000 suffering from psoriasis in Korea. It occurs in exposed areas and is often misunderstood as an infectious disease, so psoriasis patients face many difficulties in social life. Notably, about half of the patients in their 30s and 50s with an active social life are mentally stressed.
Scientific Reports published the result of the study.