Possible correlation of extent of skin involvement with serum uric acid levels in patients with psoriasis at Kenyatta National Hospital - Nairobi.

Abstract

94 patients with psoriasis were studied. It was found that psoriasis was rare before the third decade of life. Only 11.7% of patients were aged up to 20 years. No patient was found below the age of ten years. There was a higher prevalence in males (males 62.8%, females 37.2%). The tribal distribution was as expected in keeping with the geographical location of Kenyatta National Hospital. Thus the Kikuyu were the majority with 75.7 percentage. This, however, does not tell us much about the nation-wide prevalence of psoriasis amongst the various other tribes of Kenya. Just a little more than half the patients had psoriasis involving more than 10% of the skin surface, i.e. 57.4%. 29.8% had high serum uric acid. There was a strong positive correlation between serum uric acid levels and the extent of skin involvement, r = 0.82 and P< 0.001.