Hypertension Appears To Be More Severe Among People With Psoriasis

HealthDay (5/20, Dallas) reported that, according to a study published online in PLoS One, “people who have psoriasis and hypertension are more likely to have more severe high blood pressure, requiring more medications to control it.” In a study involving 835 patients with both psoriasis and hypertension, plus 2,400 people with just high blood pressure, researchers found that “the patients with psoriasis were more likely to need the highest level of blood pressure treatment, which relies on a central-acting agent (also known as adrenergic inhibitors).” What’s more, “hypertensive patients with psoriasis were also nearly 20 times more likely to be on four drugs or on a central-acting agent than hypertensive patients without psoriasis.”

Prevalence Of Psoriasis Significantly Higher Among Overweight, Obese Children. HealthDay (5/20, Dallas) reported, “The prevalence of psoriasis…is significantly higher among overweight and obese kids,” according to a study published online in the Journal of Pediatrics. “Using electronic health records to study 710,949 racially and ethnically diverse children, the investigators found obese children were almost 40 percent more likely to have psoriasis than normal weight children.”

“Regardless of body weight, teens with psoriasis had 4% to 16% higher blood cholesterol levels and liver enzymes than teens without psoriasis,” WebMD (5/20, Mann) reported. “Levels of so-called ‘bad’ or low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol were higher among teens with psoriasis that were also obese.”