Several conditions that stem from a malfunctioning immune system psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis may create a higher than average risk for heart-related problems and death, a new study finds.

Its not terribly surprising that there is an increased risk of heart disease because of the similar levels of systemic inflammation, said co-lead author Dr. Alexis Ogdie of the rheumatology division in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Whole-body inflammation has also been linked to premature plaque buildup in the arteries, Ogdie told Reuters Health in an email.

The rough, red skin patches characteristic of psoriasis are caused by a chronic autoimmune disease affecting 7.5 million people in the U.S., according to the National Psoriasis Foundation, and can be treated with topical creams, ultraviolet light therapy or drugs.

Ten to 20 percent of people with psoriasis also develop a form of inflammatory arthritis associated with the disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a systemic inflammatory disease caused by the immune system as well. It affects more than 1 million U.S. adults, mostly women, according to the American College of Rheumatology.

Psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis have previously been linked to heart disease but there have been limited studies in psoriatic arthritis, Ogdie said.

For the new study, Ogdie and her colleagues used primary care medical records in the UK to compare more than 138,000 adults with psoriasis, another 8,700 with both psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis and almost 42,000 people with rheumatoid arthritis to more than 81,000 other adults with none of the conditions.

The analysis followed all the subjects between 1994 and 2010.

More than half of those with rheumatoid arthritis or psoriatic arthritis had been prescribed a disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) such as methotrexate, sulfasalazine or azathioprine, or a biologic DMARD like adalimumab.

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Psoriasis or rheumatoid arthritis linked to heart risk