When most people hear about psoriasis, they immediately think of the skin problems it causes – those red, scaly patches that aren’t just uncomfortable but can also make someone feel really self-conscious.
What’s less known, though, is that psoriasis goes deeper than skin issues. It’s linked to a much bigger health concern: a higher risk of heart disease.
Psoriasis is actually a long-term autoimmune condition. This means that the body’s defense system, which usually fights off infections, mistakenly starts attacking healthy cells.
For people with psoriasis, this battle is waged against their skin cells, leading to the quick buildup and formation of those distinctive scaly spots.
But the problem isn’t just skin-deep. Studies have found that if you have psoriasis, you’re more likely to develop heart disease, including serious conditions like blocked arteries, heart attacks, and strokes.
So, what ties psoriasis to heart disease? It all comes down to inflammation. Psoriasis causes chronic inflammation, a kind of overreaction of the body’s defense system.
While inflammation is supposed to protect us, it can actually do a lot of damage if it keeps going when it’s not needed. This ongoing inflammation doesn’t just stay with the skin; it can also affect the heart and blood vessels.
In other words, the inflammation seen in the skin of someone with psoriasis might also be happening inside their body, including in critical areas related to heart health.
The research is quite clear on this. One major study showed that people with severe psoriasis could face up to a 58% higher risk of experiencing a major heart problem and a 43% increased risk of stroke compared to those without psoriasis.
And this isn’t only a concern as we get older; even younger folks with severe psoriasis are at a higher risk. This suggests that psoriasis’s impact on heart health is both significant and widespread.
Additionally, the inflammation linked to psoriasis can lead to other heart disease risk factors, like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and obesity. Psoriasis patients are also more likely to have diabetes, another heart disease contributor.
Together, these risks create a tangled web of factors that significantly affect the heart health of those with psoriasis.
Knowing about this connection is really important if you have psoriasis. Managing your skin condition with treatments that lower inflammation might also help protect your heart.
On top of this, living a heart-healthy lifestyle – eating right, staying active, quitting smoking, and keeping stress in check – is even more crucial for people with psoriasis.
To wrap up, understanding the link between psoriasis and heart disease is key to recognizing psoriasis as more than just a skin condition. It’s a whole-body issue that can significantly affect heart health.
This connection underlines the importance of comprehensive care, focusing on both managing psoriasis and reducing the risk of heart disease to take good care of your overall health.
If you care about heart health, please read studies that vitamin K helps cut heart disease risk by a third, and a year of exercise reversed worrisome heart failure.
For more information about heart health, please see recent studies about supplements that could help prevent heart disease, stroke, and results showing this food ingredient may strongly increase heart disease death risk.
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