preview

Symptoms And Treatment Of Psoriasis

Good Essays
Open Document

The term comorbidity refers to the association of two distinct diseases in the same individual at a rate higher than expected by chance (Bonavita and De Simone, 2008).
Although psoriasis has been previously thought to be a disease solely affecting primarily the skin and the joints, our understanding of the comorbidities that may be associated with this disease has grown significantly. Recent evidence has even suggested an increased over all risk of mortality in patients with severe psoriasis (Gelfand JM et al., 2007).
The presence of comorbidities in dermatology is of interest for various reasons. A skin disease can be an early marker of systemic disease, and therefore, identify patients who are at risk of having other, more …show more content…

A study by Cohen et al. (2008), supported previous reports of an association between psoriasis and diabetes mellitus. The age-adjusted proportion of diabetes was found to be significantly higher in psoriasis patients as compared to the control group. A possible explanation for the association between psoriasis and diabetes is the presence of chronic inflammation that occurs due to secretion of TNF-a and other proinflammatory cytokines such as IL-1 and IL-6, which precipitate both psoriasis and diabetes.
2) Non-Alcoholic Fat Liver Disease (NAFLD)
Prevalence of NAFLD in patients with psoriasis ran¬ges from 17-60% and is even greater in patients with severe psoriasis and PsA ( Miele et al., 2009) .Similarly, Gisondi et al. speculated that NAFLD may contribute to the seve-rity of psoriasis through the release of inflammatory mediators from the liver, including reactive oxygen species, CRP and IL-6, which also act as mediators of atherogenesis (Gisondi et al., 2009),Moreover, patients with psoriasis and NAFLD have higher risk of developing non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and cirrhosis than patients with NAFLD without psoriasis (Wenk et al., 2009). At least in part, progres¬sion of NAFLD to NASH is associated with an increa¬se in the TNFa/adiponectin ratio. (Sanz Lp , 2007).
3) Depression and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) A high percentage of psoriasis patients, exhibit general psychiatric morbidity compared with patients who have other skin diseases

Get Access