Hyperuricemia in patients with chronic plaque psoriasis.

BACKGROUND: Few studies have examined the association between elevated serum uric acid (SUA) levels and psoriasis, and their results have been inconclusive because most of these studies did not take into account the confounding effects of coexisting features of the metabolic syndrome. OBJECTIVE: We compared the prevalence of hyperuricemia and SUA levels between psoriatic patients and control individuals. METHODS: Levels of SUA were measured in 119 consecutive psoriatic patients and 119 control individuals matched for age, sex, and body mass index. RESULTS: Compared with control subjects, psoriatic patients had higher SUA levels (5.61 ± 1.6 vs 4.87 ± 1.4 mg/dL; P < .001) and a remarkably greater prevalence of asymptomatic hyperuricemia (19% vs 7%; P < .001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that psoriasis was the strongest predictor of hyperuricemia (odds ratio 3.20; 95% confidence interval 1.32-7.58; P < .01) after adjusting for age, sex, and metabolic syndrome features. LIMITATIONS: The cross-sectional design of this study does not allow us to draw any conclusion about a causal relation between psoriasis and hyperuricemia. CONCLUSIONS: Hyperuricemia is a common finding in psoriatic patients. Its treatment might be clinically useful for the global treatment of patients.

In situ melanoma of the nail unit in children: report of two cases in fair-skinned Caucasian children.

Nail melanoma in children is rarely reported in the literature, and all of the published cases were diagnosed in dark-skinned phototypes or in Asians. We report two cases of in situ nail matrix melanoma presenting as longitudinal melanonychia (LM) in fair-skinned children of Italian origin. Nail plate dermatoscopy revealed a brown background with lines of irregular color, spacing, and thickness in both cases. Histopathology of the excised lesions showed melanoma in situ. Clinical, dermatoscopic, and pathological criteria that permit clear differentiation of benign melanocytic activation or proliferation from nail matrix melanoma are not established for children. The presence of a pigmented band of a single nail in a child usually represents a problem for clinicians, because the clinical and dermatoscopic features that are considered possible indicators of nail unit melanoma in adults are frequently observed in benign melanocytic hyperplasia and nevi in children. There is therefore the need to find parameters useful for clinical and dermatoscopic diagnosis in childhood nail pigmentation and to reach a consensus on management of children with a band of LM.