Serum uric acid levels in untreated and PUVA-treated patients with psoriasis

Hyperuricemia occurs frequently in patients with psoriasis. An increased purin breakdown due to the enhanced epidermal turnover was stressed as a reasonable explanation. To prove this theory serum uric acid, cholesterol, triglyceride levels and the average body overweight were determined in 318 untreated psoriatic patients and the parameters were correlated with the extent of psoriatic skin involvement. In more than 100 psoriatic patients treated by oral photochemotherapy (PUVA), uric acid serum levels were examined additionally after the PUVA clearing phase and during PUVA maintenance treatment. The present study demonstrates: (1) There is no relationship between the frequency of hyperuricemia and the extent of psoriatic skin involvement, indicating that the increased epidermal turn over may not play a role in psoriatic hyperuricemia. (2) The most reasonable explanation for elevated uric acid in psoriasis seems to be a combination of genetic predisposition and hyperalimentation. (3) No significant change was found in the incidence of hyperuricemia under the influence of photochemotherapy.