Value Added Abstract
Olivera Levakove
Abstract
Abstract background: Psoriasis is a common, chronic, immune-mediated, inflammatory and proliferative skin disease in which both genetic and environmental influences have a role in its pathogenesis. Body Mass Index (BMI) is commonly used to classify underweight, overweight and obesity. It represents weight-to height ratio. The relationship between psoriasis and obesity is probably bidirectional. Objectives: Aim of this study is to evaluate the correlation between psoriasis and obesity, whether a quantitative graduation of overweight using BMI shows direct correlation with various clinical variants of psoriasis, disease duration and having positive family history of psoriasis.Patients and methods: This prospective, observational descriptive cross-sectional study included 120 psoriatic patients who were referred to Dermatology Department at Clinical Centre of Vojvodina. Clinical variants of psoriasis were determined. Age, gender, duration of the disease, BMI and family history of psoriasis were measured and compared.Results: 64 (53.3%) males and 56 (46.7%) females were included in this study. The mean age was 49.5±15.5 years. The most present clinical variant of psoriasis was psoriasis vulgaris (55%). 51 (42.5%) of patients were overweight, 23.3% were obese and 1.7% were morbidly obese. The mean BMI was high (27.7±5.2). Positive family history of psoriasis was found in 33 (27.5%) patients.