Severe androgenetic alopecia as a proxy of metabolic syndrome in male psoriatic patients older than 59 years.

Eur J Dermatol. 2014 Jun 30.
Severe androgenetic alopecia as a proxy of metabolic syndrome in male psoriatic patients older than 59 years.
Descamps V1, Mahé E2, Maccari F3, Begon E4, Barthelemy H5, Reguiai Z6, Bénéton N7, Estève E8, Chaby G9, Ruer-Mulard M10, Steiner HG11, Thomas-Beaulieu D12, Avenel-Audran M13, Goujon-Henry C14, Sigal ML2, Ezzedine K15, Beauchet A16.

Background: Whereas several studies have underlined the association between severe psoriasis and metabolic syndrome (MetS), the association of androgenetic alopecia (AGA) and MetS have yielded inconsistent results. Objective: To investigate the relationship between AGA and the components of MetS in a population of psoriatic male patients. Methods: A non-interventional, cross-sectional, multicenter study was conducted in France. A standardized questionnaire was completed, including information on components of MetS and other possible risk factors. MetS was defined in this study as a combination of three or more of the four components of MetS: waist circumference, hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus and hypertension. In addition, a standardized simplified Norwood classification limited into 5 grades (0-4) was used. Results: In a total of 1073 male patients, hypertension, high waist circumference, diabetes mellitus and hyperlipidemia were observed in 28%, 59%, 11%, and 31%, respectively. In age-adjusted multivariate analysis, severe AGA (grade 3-4 versus grade 0) was associated with the presence of at least one component of MetS. By groups of age, a statistically significant association of severe AGA and MetS was demonstrated in patients over 59 years. Severe AGA was also associated with a first degree familial history of major cardiovascular event in patients older than 59 years. Conclusions: Our study, based on a simplified but stringent definition of MetS, confirmed the link between severe AGA and individual components of MetS in psoriatic patients. This argues for careful follow-up with regular screening in male psoriatic patients with severe AGA in order to early detect determinants of MetS.

thx for posting this

freaks me out a bit though since i got AGA and psoriasis