American researchers are suggesting that adults who suffer from psoriasis are at an increased risk of a heart attack.

Dr. Joel M. Gelfand and a team from the University of Pennsylvania say this particularly applies to younger patients with severe symptoms; apparently a 30-year-old with severe symptoms has three times the risk of a heart attack than somebody of a similar age without psoriasis.

The researchers believe the immune abnormalities which cause the skin condition may also increase the risk of heart problems and say their findings support other research which has found that many chronic inflammatory diseases might be linked to heart disease by a shared mechanism.

Psoriasis affects more than 4.5 million adults in the United States and more than one million people in the UK.

Psoriasis occurs when the skin replaces itself too quickly, and there many different forms.

It usually appears as red, scaly patches that when scraped or scratched reveal fine silvery scales and the patches may feel very uncomfortable, and painful.

Some people develop a specific form of arthritis related to psoriasis.

Although previous research has also linked the condition to a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases, this latest study, which focused on data on nearly 700,000 people from the UK, provides the most conclusive evidence to date.

Unlike other studies, it also took account of other factors, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and smoking and found that heart attacks were more common in patients with psoriasis.

The good news however appears to be that the risk seemed to decline with age.

The researchers feel more work is needed to confirm their results, but say that patients with psoriasis should be particularly encouraged to do everything possible to look after their heart health.

The study is published by the Journal of the American Medical Association.