Serum Lipoproteins in Psoriasis-A Pilot Study at a Tertiary care teaching Hospital

Introduction: Psoriasis is an inflammatory dermatosis that is characterized with hyperproliferation of prevalence of atherosclerosis has been reported in psoriatic patients. High serum lipid level has been suggested in the pathogenesis of this phenomenon. In this study, our purpose was to compare the lipid profile in psoriatic patients with non-affected persons. Psoriasis is known to be associated with metabolic syndrome and studies have found discordant results of lipid profile in psoriasis. Hence this aims to study lipid profile in patients with psoriasis. Methods: This study was designed and conducted as a cross-sectional case–control study with 30 cases each in the patient and control groups, respectively. The fasting lipid profile, including serum level of triglyceride, cholesterol(TC), low-density lipoprotein(LDL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and random blood glucose were assessed in both groups. Observation and Results: The patients and controls groups consisted of 30 cases each showed a highly significant increase in total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotiens (LDL) in the cases compared to control groups p<0.01 but no significance in high-density lipoprotiens (HDL) p=0.18, triglycirides (TG) p=0.34. The PASI scores did not show any relation with the lipid profile values. Conclusion: This study, like previous studies, shows that high serum lipid level is significantly more common in psoriasis. This fact may be responsible for higher prevalence of cardiovascular diseases in psoriatic patients. It may be useful to do early screening and treatment of hyperlipidaemia in psoriasis to prevent the atherosclerosis and its complications.