Prevalence of metabolic syndrome as per the NCEP and IDF definitions vis-a-vis severity and duration of psoriasis in a semi-urban Maharashtrian population: A case control study.

Background: The inexorable inflammation in patients of psoriasis predisposes to various disorders, notably, a cluster of cardiovascular and metabolic abnormalities christened 'metabolic syndrome'.

Aim: To assess the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its correlation with the severity and duration of psoriasis.

Methods: One hundred psoriasis patients and 100 age-and-sex matched controls were included, whose waist circumference and blood pressure were measured; fasting serum cholesterol, triglycerides and glucose levels quantified; disease severity assessed and metabolic syndrome defined separately by two globally accepted criteria.

Results: Metabolic syndrome (38%:12%), hypertriglyceridemia (53%:25%), impaired glucose tolerance (38%:16%) [P<0.001] and low HDL (P=0.002) were significantly more prevalent in cases as compared to controls as were the mean values of triglycerides and fasting blood sugar. Increased mean age of psoriasis patients and duration of disease strongly correlated with the presence of this syndrome. The divergence in definition of the syndrome by two separate criteria was also highly significant (P<0.001).

Conclusion: Metabolic syndrome had significant presence in and increased with the duration but remained unaffected by the severity of psoriasis in our study patients.