Increased serum resistin levels correlate with psoriasis: a meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Recent studies implicate adipokines in the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases, including psoriasis. In this study we evaluated the significance of serum resistin levels in psoriasis patients using a meta-analysis approach.223 METHODS: Relevant articles were retrieved by searching the following English and Chinese databases: Cochrane Library, PubMed, Springer Link, Chinese Biomedical Database (CBM) and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). The retrieved studies were subjected to a thorough screening procedure to identify case–control studies that contained the required data. Data was extracted from each study and Version 12.0 STATA statistical software was employed for statistical analyses. RESULTS: Nine case–control studies, containing 421 psoriasis patients and 348 healthy controls, were included in this study. The major result of the meta-analysis revealed a statistically significant association between serum resistin levels and psoriasis (SMD = 2.22, 95%CI: 1.14-3.29, P < 0.001). Subgroup analysis based on ethnicity showed that, compared to the healthy controls, serum resistin levels were markedly higher in psoriasis patients in both Asian and Caucasian populations (Asians: SMD = 3.27, 95%CI = 1.62 ~ 4.91, P < 0.001; Caucasians: SMD = 0.91, 95%CI = 0.28 ~ 1.54, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Based on our results, we conclude that serum resistin level in psoriasis patients is higher than healthy controls, and raises the possibility that elevated serum resistin levels may be a novel diagnostic marker in psoriasis and may predict the occurrence of co-morbidities in psoriasis patients.