Prevalence of metabolic syndrome in patients with psoriasis

Background: Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the skin and is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular atherosclerosis. Metabolic syndrome, a conglomerate of various clinical and biochemical parameters is a significant predictor of atherosclerotic disease and the associated risk for cardiovascular events in such patients. Aim: To investigate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in patients with psoriasis. Methods: The study was a prospective, hospital based case-control study involving 150 adult patients with chronic plaque psoriasis and 150 healthy controls. Venous samples were taken at the enrolment visit after the subjects had fasted overnight (at least 8 h). Serum cholesterol and triglycerides were measured with enzymatic procedures. Plasma glucose was measured using a glucose oxidase method. Metabolic syndrome was diagnosed by the presence of three or more criteria of the National Cholesterol Education Programme′s Adult Panel III (ATP III). Statistical analysis of the data was done using statistical processing software (SPSS-17) and epi-info software. Results: Metabolic syndrome was significantly more common in psoriatic patients than in controls 42(28%) vs 9(6%), odds ratio (OR) = 6.09, P<0.05. Psoriatic patients also had a significantly higher prevalence of hypertriglyceridaemia (73/150 among cases vs 24/150 among controls; P<0.05), arterial hypertension (74/150 among cases vs 24/150 among controls; P<0.05) and impaired fasting plasma glucose levels (27/150 among cases vs 04/150 among controls; P