Beta-blockers may exacerbate psoriasis: Study

De novo psoriasis is described as the occurrence of the disease in those with no personal or family history of the said disease. Psoriasis is notoriously known to be associated with numerous drug use and its exacerbations, including de novo psoriasis in patients with no previous history of psoriasis

Beta-blockers, also spelt β-blockers, are a class of medications that are predominantly used to manage abnormal heart rhythms, and to protect the heart from a second heart attack after a first heart attack. Beta-blockers (BB) are known to induce or aggravate psoriasis. However, previous epidemiological studies have reported conflicting results. Considering the correlation between psoriasis and hypertension, it is important to determine whether BB can influence psoriasis development while selecting antihypertensive agents for patients at high risk of psoriasis. This study aims to evaluate the association between BB use and the development of de novo psoriasis in patients with hypertension based on the large-scale database.

Using a nationwide database, the authors identified 105,529 patients without psoriasis who were diagnosed with hypertension. Of these, 17,768 were prescribed beta-blockers in their first antihypertensive regimen

The Results of the study are:

Over 2 years, only 0.4% of patients in the beta-blocker–the exposed group developed psoriasis, which did not differ from those who were not exposed to beta-blockers (also 0.4%).

Thus, the researchers concluded that though there is evidence that beta-blockers may exacerbate psoriasis, it does not appear that they precipitate de novo development of psoriasis.

Reference:

Risk of de novo psoriasis in hypertension patients initially treated with beta-blockers: Nationwide population-based cohort study in Korea by YE Kim, Y Cho, SJ Jo et al. published in Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology: JEADV

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cen.14640