Serum lipids in patients with psoriasis

In 13 patients with psoriasis a lower total cholesterol (TC) concentration was found compared to healthy controls of the same population. No differences in the concentration of serum triglyceride (TG) or phospholipids (PL) were detected between these two groups. In the same patients, serum triglyceride fatty acid analyses showed a reduced concentration of linoleic acid and a raised level of palmitoleic and myristic acids. No differences were detected in the major phospholipid fractions. The increase in plasma free fatty acids (FFA) following intravenous heparin was comparable in the psoriatic patients and in the controls. It is concluded that no basic abnormality of serum lipids exists and that the changes described were due to a selective loss via the scales or due to malabsorption. In spite of extensive research into the nature of psoriasis, little has been published concerning the behaviour of serum lipids in this disease. Conflicting results have been published regarding the concentrations and composition of serum lipids in psoriasis as recently reviewed by WILKINSON [14]. We have, therefore, studied serum lipid concentration and composition in a group of psoriatic patients and compared them to a normal control group of the same population.