Researchers led by Dr. Abrar Qureshi of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School focused their attention on a 1991 study which involved a group of 78,061 female nurses for a period of 14 years, 1,800 of whom with a diagnosis of psoriasis.

 

The researchers found that women with psoriasis turned out to have a 63 percent increased risk of developing diabetes and a 17 percent increased risk of developing high blood pressure or hypertension compared to the rest of the women involved in the study.

 

The link between psoriasis and diabetes and high blood pressure remained strong even after taking into account factors such as age, body mass index and smoking.

 

The researchers said a possible explanation could be that inflammation can lead to high blood pressure and may also be a factor in insulin resistance. “Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease, and inflammation is a risk factor for hypertension.”

 

“These data illustrate the importance of considering psoriasis a systemic disorder rather than simply a skin disease. Further research is needed to better understand the mechanisms underlying these associations and to find out whether psoriasis therapy can reduce the risk for diabetes and hypertension,” Dr. Qureshi concluded.