The chronic skin condition characterized by thick, red, scaly plaques that itch and sometimes bleed, causing considerable discomfort and emotional stress for patients - psoriasis - is being associated by a new research to diabetes and atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).

The researchers found a higher occurrence of diabetes and atherosclerosis in psoriasis patients compared to patients without psoriasis in a retrospective case-control study that included 46,095 patients with psoriasis (case patients) and 1,579,037 patients without psoriasis (control patients) from the patient database of Maccabi Healthcare Services (MHS) - the second largest managed care organization in Israel.

According to dermatologist Michael David, MD, Dermatology Department at Rabin Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel:

"Previous reports have demonstrated an association between psoriasis and other diseases, including heart failure and diabetes.

Our study was designed to determine if such an association existed with psoriasis patients in Israel, if so, what subset of this patient population was most affected."

Findings have been reported in an article entitled "The association between psoriasis, diabetes mellitus, and atherosclerosis in Israel: A case-control study" appeared in the April 2007 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Particularly with regards to diabetes: diabetes among psoriasis patients could actually contribute to the severity of the psoriasis.

Find more details from the full report.

[article abstract]

[Photo Credit: psorialess.com]