Clinico-epidemiological study of Psoriasis and associated co-morbidities

Background: Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease most commonly manifested by skin lesions on the elbows, knees, scalp, genitals, and trunk. The co-morbidities more commonly associated to psoriasis include psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and Crohn’s disease, others being hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis, obesity, ischemic heart disease, ulcerative colitis, reduced quality of life, depression and malignancy. Present study aims to study the prevalence of co-morbidity factors associated with psoriasis. Materials and methods: A hospital based cross sectional study was conducted in Dermatology outpatient department at a tertiary hospital in Mangalore. Written informed consent was taken from the patients. Detailed clinical evaluation and relevant investigations were done for all patients. Data was analysed using SPSS software ver. 17. Results: A total of 86 psoriasis patients were included in the study. Male pre-dominance (65%) was observed with majority of patients were between 30-50 years of age. Psoriasis was associated with a significantly increased prevalence for hypertension (46.51%), hyperlipidemia (48.83%), diabetes (38.31%), cardiovascular disease (10.46%), COPD (9.30%), psoriatic arthritis (29.06%), metabolic syndrome (34.88%), Crohn’s disease (1.16%) and depression (47.67%). Conclusion: The study revealed a male preponderance with peak incidence in third and fourth decade of life. We also observed a high prevalence of associated co-morbidites in patients of psoriasis which play a major role in diasease progression and hence should be addressed accordingly.