Metabolic syndrome has been associated with psoriasis.

A new study published in the British Journal of Dermatology examined whether metabolic syndrome and its components are associated with risk of incident psoriasis.

This prospective study used data from two consecutive surveys of the HUNT Study, Norway. Overall, 34,996 patients aged ≥20 years without psoriasis in HUNT2 were followed up in HUNT3, and 374 incident psoriasis cases were identified.

The findings showed that metabolic syndrome was associated with a relative risk (RR) for psoriasis of 1.66. On analyzing separate components of metabolic syndrome, positive associations were established with the risk of psoriasis for waist circumference, triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, but not for blood pressure and blood glucose. Furthermore, there was an increased risk of psoriasis with high total cholesterol. The increased risk associated with high triglycerides, HDL cholesterol and total cholesterol was reduced after adjusting for body mass index.

Hence, the results showed that metabolic syndrome was associated with an increased risk of incident psoriasis. The findings suggested that this positive association could partly be attributed to adiposity.