Wednesday, March 26, 2008

By David Douglas

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The use of "thiazolidinediones" type diabetes drugs, such as Avandia and Actos, may reduce the risk of developing the scaly skin condition psoriasis, according to Swiss and US researchers.

Senior investigator Dr. Christoph R. Meier told Reuters Health that "it was postulated that these drugs may have anti-inflammatory effects and therefore may also have beneficial effects on diseases (involving widespread) inflammation, such as psoriasis."

As reported in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, Meier of University Hospital Basel and colleagues, using a UK general practice database, identified more than 36,000 patients with a diagnosis of psoriasis and matched them with a like number of subjects without the skin condition.

Regular use of thiazolidinediones cut the risk of psoriasis by 67 percent. Use of metformin, an older diabetes drug, also reduced the risk, but the effect was not as pronounced.

However, the researchers note that only 100 patients had ever used thiazolidinediones and that only 48 were regular users. Thus, continued Meier, "the reduced...psoriasis risk we found was based on a small number of exposed patients and must not be overinterpreted."

Meier believes that if the findings hold true in future studies, research into thiazolidinediones for use against psoriasis may be fruitful -- and he suggested that "patients with psoriasis who also develop type 2 diabetes may preferentially get treatment with thiazolidinediones."

SOURCE: Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, March 2008.