Archive for the ‘Psoriasis’ Category

Psoriasis patients at higher risk for heart disease

Thursday, January 12th, 2012

New research in the American Journal of Cardiology suggests that psoriasis patients may have a heightened risk for blocked arteries and other heart conditions.

Researchers analyzed the health data of 9,500 people who underwent a coronary angiography, more than 200 of which were diagnosed with the skin condition. Psoriasis patients showed higher cholesterol and body weight, reports Reuters, and nearly 85 percent of the participants with psoriasis also had coronary artery disease. This condition causes the arteries supplying blood to the heart to become restricted.

“One of the things that we’ve come to understand is that psoriasis is not a disease that’s just limited to the skin,” April Armstrong, doctor at the University of California, Davis, and one of the study’s researchers, told the news outlet.

Several medical professionals weighed in on the study, telling the news source that those with psoriasis should be screened for “modifiable cardiovascular risk factors,” such as blood pressure, body mass index, cholesterol, glucose levels and smoking.

More than 7.5 million people in the United States have been diagnosed with psoriasis, according to the National Psoriasis Foundation. The inflammatory disease is characterized by thick, red and/or scaly patches of skin. Psoriasis treatments include oral medications, topical creams, and ultraviolet light therapy.

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New drug clears up 60 percent of psoriasis cases, study says

Saturday, October 29th, 2011

Researchers have discovered that a new drug may put psoriasis sufferers in remission, reports WebMD News.

According to the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the drug briakinumab was compared to methotrexate, a typical treatment for the skin condition. Results showed that those who were injected with briakinumab saw three times more improvements in their skin than those who took the latter medication, seeing their flaking skin and lesions clear up.

“This drug has had, in this trial, the highest efficacy we have ever seen with any biologic in psoriasis before,” Kristian Reich, a researcher in the study, told the news source. “This is unheard of. We in dermatology have never spoken about remission before, but with this drug, the word ‘remission’ is on the table.”

Of more than 150 patients who participated in the study, about 60 percent of the group treated with the experimental drug had their skin clear up, while between 10 and 20 percent of the methotrexate group experienced the same results.

The success of the drug does not come without its consequences, however, as some patients who were treated with briakinumab had “more serious infections and more cancers than those taking methotrexate,” reports the news outlet.

Currently, drugmaker Abbott is reportedly running further studies to confirm the safety of the medication before it presents additional evidence to administrations in the U.S. and Europe.

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Psoriasis patients at higher risk for stroke, arrhythmias

Sunday, August 28th, 2011

Danish scientists have found that those with psoriasis may be at a higher risk for stroke and irregular heartbeat than the typical person, according to MyHealthNews.

The findings support a number of recent studies that link the skin condition to problems with the heart and blood vessels, reports the news source. In this instance, psoriatic patients under the age of 50 were three times more likely to experience atrial fibrillation and 2.8 times more likely suffer from ischemic stroke than those without psoriasis. Older participants in the study also had an increased risk for both events, but slightly smaller.

“In recent years, psoriasis has certainly taken the step from a disease affecting appearances to a systemic disease and cardiovascular risk factor,” cardiologist Ole Ahlehoff of Copenhagen University Hospital Gentofte told the news provider. Other studies have found a relationship between the skin condition, heart attacks and heart disease deaths. The doctor, who co-authored the study, urges those with psoriasis to be regularly checked for symptoms of cardiovascular diseases and arrhythmias, according to the source.

Symptoms of psoriasis include redness and irritation in their skin, which is the result of dead skin cells that have built up on the skin’s surface. The body sheds its top layers of skin every three to four weeks, but psoriatic skin renews itself every three to four days, thus the cells rise to the top before the body is able to shed the top layers, causing buildup.

More than 7.5 million Americans suffer from this skin condition, according to the National Psoriasis Organization.

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