He hopes that a larger, prospective study he has begun in collaboration with Dr. Joel M. Gelfand, a dermatologist at the University of Pennsylvania and the senior investigator for this work, will eventually provide a more nuanced risk adjustment for all levels of psoriasis severity. But he said that the current estimate of the increased risk will help persuade psoriasis patients to adopt healthier lifestyles. Patients with psoriasis, at all severity levels, tend to have relatively high rates of obesity, smoking, diabetes, hypertension, and inactivity.
Dr. Mehta added that better medical control of psoriasis also might help blunt the increased cardiovascular risk.
"Psoriasis and atherosclerosis are both T-cell mediated diseases," he observed. Most likely what goes on in the skin -to form the psoriasis plaques - also is going on inside patients' blood vessels, he said.
Dr. Mehta said that he had no disclosures.