New from PubMed:

Recent data has demonstrated that psoriasis is an inflammatory disease. Systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, and other inflammatory diseases have previously been linked to the metabolic syndrome. Researchers at Clalit Health Services in Tel Aviv, Israel looked at 16,851 patients with psoriasis vulgaris (50.1% men, 49.9% women, mean age 42.7 years) and used 48,681 controls to assess a possible association between psoriasis and the metabolic syndrome. The metabolic syndrome is characterized by risk factors such as hypertension, abdominal obesity, insulin resistance or glucose intolerance, and proinflammatory state. These underlying causes put people at an increased risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease. Diabetes mellitus, hypertension, obesity, and ischemic heart disease were all found to be significantly more prevalent in the psoriasis patients than in the control participants. The study proved an association between psoriasis and the metabolic syndrome, but not causality. Nonetheless, treatment of the metabolic syndrome should be considered in the management of psoriasis.

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