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Bariatric surgery (weight-loss surgery) for obesity has beneficial effects on psoriatic symptoms, show study results.
Psoriasis is more common and severe in people who are obese than in normal-weight individuals, explain Magdalena Farias (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile) and team.
However, recent findings have suggested that in addition to dramatic weight loss, bariatric surgery also has beneficial effects on comorbidities such as psoriasis and diabetes.
To investigate the effects on psoriasis further, Farias and co-authors assessed symptoms and severity of psoriasis in 10 obese (mean body mass index [BMI]=38.8 kg/m2) patients before and after bariatric surgery (eight laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and two sleeve gastrectomy).
In total, 50% of the patients were receiving topical treatment for psoriasis before their surgery and 40% systemic treatment.
Following surgery, 70% of the patients had a remission of their psoriasis symptoms that was sustained for at least 6 months. In addition, three of the four patients on systemic drug therapy were able to stop their medication.
The impact of psoriasis on quality of life, as assessed by the Dermatology Life Quality Index, improved significantly from a score of 14.9 before to 5.0 after surgery.
Bariatric surgery also had a beneficial effect on other comorbidities in these patients, resulting in a 75% resolution of diabetes in those who had the condition before surgery, as well as a 100% resolution of insulin resistance, and a 57% resolution of hypertension. Weight loss was also highly successful, with participants achieving a mean weight loss corresponding to 88% of their pre-surgery excess weight at 1 year.
"Bariatric surgery for positive metabolic, skin, and quality of life results should be considered as a useful adjuvant therapy for obese patients with psoriasis," write Farias and co-authors in Obesity Surgery.
However, they concede: "These first results have to be confirmed by long-term controlled studies."
Psoriasis is more common and severe in people who are obese than in normal-weight individuals, explain Magdalena Farias (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile) and team.
However, recent findings have suggested that in addition to dramatic weight loss, bariatric surgery also has beneficial effects on comorbidities such as psoriasis and diabetes.
To investigate the effects on psoriasis further, Farias and co-authors assessed symptoms and severity of psoriasis in 10 obese (mean body mass index [BMI]=38.8 kg/m2) patients before and after bariatric surgery (eight laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and two sleeve gastrectomy).
In total, 50% of the patients were receiving topical treatment for psoriasis before their surgery and 40% systemic treatment.
Following surgery, 70% of the patients had a remission of their psoriasis symptoms that was sustained for at least 6 months. In addition, three of the four patients on systemic drug therapy were able to stop their medication.
The impact of psoriasis on quality of life, as assessed by the Dermatology Life Quality Index, improved significantly from a score of 14.9 before to 5.0 after surgery.
Bariatric surgery also had a beneficial effect on other comorbidities in these patients, resulting in a 75% resolution of diabetes in those who had the condition before surgery, as well as a 100% resolution of insulin resistance, and a 57% resolution of hypertension. Weight loss was also highly successful, with participants achieving a mean weight loss corresponding to 88% of their pre-surgery excess weight at 1 year.
"Bariatric surgery for positive metabolic, skin, and quality of life results should be considered as a useful adjuvant therapy for obese patients with psoriasis," write Farias and co-authors in Obesity Surgery.
However, they concede: "These first results have to be confirmed by long-term controlled studies."
