Disease Concomitance in Psoriasis- A Clinical Study

Abstract

BACKGROUND Psoriasis is associated with a variety of comorbidities like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, variations in lipid metabolism, liver impairment, gout, intestinal disease and malabsorption. A number of skin diseases are also reported to occur concomitantly in patients with psoriasis like vitiligo, lichen simplex chronicus, lichen planus, etc. We wanted to study the frequency of cutaneous and systemic diseases concomitantly seen in patients with psoriasis as observed in patients attending South Central Railway Hospital and to assess the significance by comparing them with controls. METHODS100 patients with psoriasis attending the department of Dermatology and Venereology, South Central Railway Hospital were studied in detail. Special attention was given to the concomitant cutaneous and systemic diseases. The psoriatic patients were compared with equal number of age and sex matched controls. The concomitant cutaneous and systemic conditions in psoriasis patients were compared with those in the controls and the statistical significance was assessed using Chi-square test and Z value for two proportions. RESULTSWe have compared the associated cutaneous and systemic disorders in psoriasis patients with controls. The various cutaneous diseases seen in our psoriatic patients are melasma (3%), PMLE (1%), acrochordons (5%), alopecia areata (1%), drug rash (2%), cellulitis (1%), DPN (3)%, FDE (1%), vitiligo (3%), tinea cruris/corporis (2%), lipomas (1%), ecchymoses (2%), candidal intertrigo (1%), lymphedema (1%), lichen planus (1%). The various systemic disorders associated were diabetes (26%), hypertension (30%), coronary artery disease (5%), elevated lipid profile (5%) cerebrovascular accidents (1%), bronchial asthma (2%), depression (2%), anaemia (5%) etc. There was a statistically significant difference in the number of cases with liver impairment (5%) and hyperuricemia (5%) when compared to controls. The percentage of patients who were overweight (30%) and had addictions like alcohol intake (29%) and smoking (15%) was also significantly higher among psoriatics. CONCLUSIONSIn the present study, psoriasis in associated with various cutaneous and systemic disorders, some showing statistically significant difference when compared to controls. HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: Ramesh N, Rao RN, Arzitha K, et al. Disease concomitance in psoriasis-a clinical study.