Psoriasis and metabolic syndrome: hospital based cross sectional study of prevalence and correlation in a rural south Indian population

Abstract

Background: Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that affects 1-3% of the population. Recent studies have reported that psoriasis is associated with metabolic disorders, including obesity, dyslipidaemia and diabetes. The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) in psoriasis and to evaluate the association with severity and duration of psoriasisMethods: This was a hospital based cross sectional study that involved 60 patients with psoriasis evaluated for MS. Statistical analysis was done by SPSS version 16.0 software. Percentages, mean, standard deviation, correlation, chi-square test, t test were calculated at 5% level of significance.Results: 20% of patients had MS which is comparable to the normal population. 60% of the patients in our study are obese which is directly correlating with MS. There is significant increase in MS as age (p =0.01), duration of psoriasis (p =0.03), BMI (p =0.0001), waist circumference (p =0.0001) increases.Conclusions: There is 20% association of psoriasis with MS. There is no gender predisposition and no association between the severity of psoriasis and metabolic syndrome. There is minimal relationship between the duration of psoriasis and metabolic syndrome. Obesity is the commonest factor related to psoriasis, diabetes and MS which should be taken care of by diet, exercise and lifestyle modification.