Presence of selected metabolic syndrome components in patients with psoriasis vulgaris

Introduction Recent studies have suggested a strong association between psoriasis and obesity, dyslipidemia, hypertension, resistance to insulin and metabolic syndrome. Aim To assess the prevalence of selected metabolic syndrome components in patients with psoriasis and the effect of the abnormalities on the disease activity. Material and methods Two hundred and forty-six patients diagnosed with psoriasis and 75 healthy individuals as controls were included in the study. Psoriasis activity was evaluated by the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI). Results There was a statistically significant difference in triglyceride concentration between psoriasis patients and controls (p = 0.00001), which was not found for high-density lipoprotein (HDL) concentration. Mean values of serum glucose level in patients with psoriasis were significantly higher than in controls (p = 0.046). Further statistical analysis of the obtained results showed significantly higher systolic blood pressure in the psoriasis patients than in the controls (p = 0.0001), but there was no statistically significant difference in diastolic blood pressure between the investigated groups (p > 0.05). Conclusions Higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome components was observed in patients with psoriasis than in the general population.