Psoriasis and Hypertension: A Case-Control Study

In recent years, numerous reports have demonstrated an association between psoriasis and metabolic syndrome. However, some studies failed to demonstrate an association between psoriasis and hypertension. The aim of the present study was to examine the association between psoriasis and hypertension. Psoriasis patients of a health-maintenance organization were compared with enrollees without psoriasis regarding the prevalence of hypertension in a case-control study. The study included 12,502 psoriasis patients over the age of 20 years and 24,285 age- and sex-frequency-matched controls. The prevalence of hypertension was significantly higher in psoriasis patients than controls (38.8%, 29.1%, respectively, p < 0.001). In a multivariate analysis, hypertension was associated with psoriasis after controlling for age, sex, smoking status, obesity, diabetes, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and use of Cox-2 inhibitors (odds ratio: 1.37, 95% confidence interval: 1.29-1.46). The results of this study support the previously noted association between psoriasis and hypertension. We suggest that patients with psoriasis should be routinely screened for the presence of hypertension.