This has been kicking around for awhile, but the evidence is building to the point that it really can't be ignored. People with psoriasis have roughly double the risk of vascular disease as people without this autoimmune disease. The results of a new study conducted at the Miami VA hospital were just published in the Archives of Dermatology and reported at Medscape (WebMD). Here's a snippet:
"There are two messages from the research, Kirsner [one of the investigators] says. "First,
psoriasis patients and their physicians need to be aware that they are
at higher risk, and because of this they need to be aggressively
screened and treated for vascular disease." Second, he said, there is
some evidence that treating psoriasis might lower this risk: "Ten years
ago, we used to tell patients who had psoriasis who didn't want to be
treated, 'that's fine, it's your decision,' but now that may not be
true, and if you don't treat psoriasis, it could be like not treating
high blood pressure or diabetes."
