Psoriasis Linked to Difficult-to-Manage Hypertension

Patients with psoriasis more likely to be on multiple drug regimen or centrally acting agents

WEDNESDAY, May 25 (HealthDay News) -- Hypertensive patients with psoriasis are more likely to have difficult-to-control hypertension compared to hypertensive patients without psoriasis, according to a study published online March 29 in PLoS One.

April W. Armstrong, M.D., M.P.H., from the University of California Davis in Sacramento, and colleagues examined whether patients with psoriasis have more difficult-to-manage hypertension than non-psoriatic hypertensive patients. Data were collected from the University of California Davis electronic medical records for 835 cases with both psoriasis and hypertension and 2,418 control non-psoriatic hypertensive patients, matched by age, gender, and body mass index.

The investigators found that there was a significant association between the severity of hypertension as measured by the number of antihypertensive agents used and the presence of psoriasis even after adjusting for race, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia. After adjusting for traditional cardiac risk factors, psoriatic patients with hypertension had a five-fold increased likelihood of being on a monotherapy antihypertensive regimen, a 9.5-fold increased likelihood of being on a dual antihypertensive therapy regimen, a 16.5-fold increased likelihood of being on a triple antihypertensive regimen, and a 19.9-fold increased likelihood of being on a quadruple antihypertensive regimen or centrally acting agents, compared with hypertensive patients without psoriasis.

"Psoriasis patients who have hypertension are more likely to have more difficult-to-control hypertension and require a greater number of antihypertensive medications than non-psoriatic, hypertensive patients," the authors write.

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