Cardiovascular complications of psoriasis: does obstructive sleep apnoea play a role?

Sir, There are considerable data to suggest that patients with psoriasis are at greater risk of developing diabetes, obesity, heart insu¤ciency and occlusive vascular disease than non-psoriatic dermatological patients (1 ^ 3). It has been hypothesized that clot formation following abnormal arachidonic acid and cyclic nucleotide metabolism or blood hyperviscosity in psoriasis might be responsible for the increase in susceptibility of the psoriatic population to occlusive vascular disease (2 ^ 4). Since occlusive vascular disease, heart insu¤ciency and obesity are also related to obstructive sleep apnoea (5), which is the most common organic sleep disorder, especially in middleaged obese men aged 35 years and over and women aged 50 years and over (6), we were interested in the prevalence of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) in patients with psoriasis.