Atherogenesis in Psoriasis: Evaluation of the Serum Activities of Non-high-density Lipoprotein Cholesterol and Other Lipids Among Newly Diagnosed Psoriasis Patients

Introduction Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disorder which commonly affects people aged between 15-25 years with a 2-3 % prevalence rate throughout the world. Psoriasis is a systemic inflammatory disease associated with severe co-morbidities that include cardiovascular risk. Although changes in the atherogenic lipids among psoriasis patients is already documented, very little is known about their role in atherogenesis among the new onset cases of psoriasis. Hence, this study is undertaken to assess the activities of non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C) and other lipids among newly diagnosed psoriasis patients. Methods The study included 25 new onset cases of psoriasis patients aged between 20-60 years (mean age 38.2 years) attending the Dermatology outpatient department (OPD) of the Chalmeda Anandrao Institute of Medical Sciences (CAIMS), Karimnagar, Telangana, India, a tertiary care teaching hospital. An equal number of healthy individuals were included as controls. Blood was collected from all the subjects included in the study and was analyzed for various lipid parameters that included total cholesterol (TC), HDL-C, and triglycerides. The non-HDL-C and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) were later calculated manually by using the standard formulae. The data were tabulated using Microsoft Excel and was analyzed for their statistical significance using the Student t-test. Results The results demonstrated a statistically significant difference in the lipid parameters between the cases and controls. Among the parameters measured, the pro-atherogenic lipids including the LDL-C and non-HDL-C activities among the cases (LDL-C 171.46±17.13, p=0.0002; non-HDL-C 213.27±20.17, p ≤ 0.0001) and controls (LDL-C 91.04±11.41, p=0.0002; Non-HDL-C 119.0± 12.28, p ≤ 0.0001) were found to be statistically significant. The ratios of non-HDL-C to HDL-C and total cholesterol to HDL-C both among the cases (7.10±0.1, 8.13±1.2) and control groups (3.05±0.30, 4.03±0.42) were also showing a statistically significant difference. Conclusion The results clearly demonstrate the significance of the evaluation of lipids among newly diagnosed cases of psoriasis patients. The activities of different lipoproteins including the non-HDL-C and LDL-C revealed an increase among the psoriasis patients. The ratios of non-HDL-C to HDL-C and TC to HDL-C also showed significant variability. Further, to establish their clinical utility in the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD), and to manage appropriately, a regular follow-up of such parameters both before and after initiation of treatment is required.