People with the skin condition, psoriasis, may have an increased risk of developing an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) - a potentially fatal enlargement of the main blood vessel that supplies blood to the abdomen, a new study has found.

AAA usually causes no symptoms until it ruptures and this can prove fatal.

Danish researchers set out to investigate the link between AAA and psoriasis, an inflammatory skin condition, which appears as pink or red raised patches on the skin. These are known as plaques and are typically itchy and scaly.

The researchers monitored almost 60,000 people with mild psoriasis and over 11,500 with severe psoriasis between 1997 and 2011. They found that the rate of developing AAA (per 10,000 person-years) was 3.72 for the general population.

However, among those with mild psoriasis, this rate increased to 7.3, and among those with severe psoriasis, it was 9.87.

Compared to the general population, the adjusted incidence rate ratios were significantly increased for severe psoriasis at 1.67. That's a 67% greater risk of AAA likelihood for severe psoriasis sufferers," the researchers explained.

They believe that these findings add to the current evidence which suggests that psoriasis is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

"Psoriasis must be considered as a systemic inflammatory disease rather than an isolated skin disease. Increased awareness on heightened risk of other cardiovascular diseases, including AAA, in patients with psoriasis is required.

"Clinicians need to educate and assist their patients with psoriasis in lifestyle and risk factor modification to facilitate cardiovascular disease risk reduction," they added.

Details of these findings are published in the journal, Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology.