There is nothing worse than finding out that you have a disease that was missed or never diagnosed. In the case of psoriasis, as many as 3.6 million people may be undiagnosed. The reason why experts are especially concerned? Because people who have psoriasis are at heightened risk for heart attacks and other heart disease issues. And this is especially true if the psoriasis is moderate or severe in nature.
Currently there are 7 million patients diagnosed with psoriasis, and along with the cardiac risk - many of them have complicating issues like hypertension, diabetes, elevated cholesterol and obesity. Experts hope that this new study highlighting the huge numbers of undiagnosed psoriasis patients (and their increased risk of heart disease) will be a wake up call to people to "check out that red, itchy rash." I know from the numbers of question I get on this site, that too many people are writing to ask me questions, when in fact, they need to see a doctor so their rash can be diagnosed.
In the case of undiagnosed psoriasis, many of these sufferers tend to be male, nonwhite, less educated, and unmarried (because I'm sure a wife would make them go to the doctor). Doctors should realize that if they are seeing patients with psoriasis, these patients should be routinely screened for blood pressure issues, metabolic syndrome, cardiac issues and especially have a cholesterol profile.
So if you have a persistant rash get it checked out before it becomes more than just a rash.
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