Publication:

Insulin resistance in psoriasis: prevalence and prospects from a tertiary care centre

Background Psoriasis is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory disorder of skin. Though the exact etio-pathogenesis is not well-understood, several studies hypothesised it as a complex interaction between genetics, immunology, and environment. Hence, we aimed to assess the insulin resistance among psoriasis patients and to correlate the insulin resistance with the disease severity, and inflammation.

Methods A tertiary hospital-based observational study was conducted for a year (2016-2017) at dermatology and endocrinology OPD, IPGMER and SSKM Hospital, Kolkata. The eligible participants were selected after applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria. After obtaining the written informed consent, basic demographic details were collected and examined for certain physical and biochemical parameters. Data was entered in Microsoft excel and analysed using SPSS software. Appropriate statistical analysis was carried out.

Results A total of 48 cases and 40 controls participated in the study. The median fasting insulin (p<0.001), HOMA-IR (p<0.001), and hs CRP (p=0.047) in cases were significantly higher than controls. There were significant differences of HOMA-IR within three groups of psoriasis. There was a positive correlation and statistically significant between PASI and HOMA-IR (rho=0.469, p value=0.001) and between PASI and fasting insulin (rho-0.528, p value<0.001).

Conclusions Chronic psoriasis patients were more insulin resistant and significantly correlated with the disease severity index.