A new study suggests women who have high blood pressure also have an increased risk of psoriasis.
A Brown University research team found, after controlling for other factors, that women who have had at least six years of high blood pressure and use beta-blockers have an increased risk of developing the condition.
Psoriasis is a skin condition that causes cells to build up rapidly, resulting in thick, dry scales that can be itchy or even painful, Mayo Clinic reported.
The condition affects about three percent of the U.S. populations and about 125 million individuals across the globe, the study, published in Jama Dermatology, reported. The condition has been associated with "morbidity and substantial economic costs to patients and the health care system," the study reported.
Past studies have found psoriasis is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and hypertension, but most of these have been cross-sectional or case-control studies which can interfere with data on the temporal association between psoriasis and hypertension. Medications for treating hypertension, especially β-blockers, have also been known to exacerbate the uncomfortable skin condition; however evidence from a recent large case-control study did not find substantial evidence indicating antihypertensive drugs altered the risk of psoriasis.
To make their findings researchers looked at records of 77,728 women in the Nurses Health Study dataset to compare psoriasis risk in women with and without long-term hypertension as well as various types of high blood pressure treatment.
"After adjusting for a number of potential confounders, we found that a prior history of hypertension was associated with an increased risk of psoriasis among women with a hypertension duration of six years or more," wrote researchers Dr. Shaowei Wu and senior author Dr. Abrar Qureshi. "Among the individual antihypertensive drugs, only beta-blockers were associated with an increased risk of psoriasis after regular use for six years or more."
