Stress and psoriasis: psychoendocrine and metabolic reactions in psoriatic patients during standardized stressor exposure

Abstract

Psychoendocrine and metabolic reactions during standardized stressor exposure (color-word conflict test and forced mental arithmetics) were studied in ten psoriatic and ten matched healthy subjects. During resting conditions, the groups were similar with regard to psychologic and biochemical variables, except for plasma glucose, which was slightly elevated in the psoriatic group. During stressor exposure, the psoriatic group reported significantly higher strain levels. Blood pressure, pulse rate, plasma glucose, and urinary adrenaline excretion increased in both groups during exposure, with more pronounced increases of the latter two in the psoriatic group. Serum cortisol, prolactin, progesterone and urinary cortisol decreased in both groups during stressor exposure. The decrease in serum cortisol was more pronounced in the psoriatic group. Thus, no psychoendocrine differences were found between the healthy and psoriatic subjects during resting conditions. In contrast, during a standardized stressor exposure, psoriatic subjects reported higher levels of strain, which was accompanied by higher levels of urinary adrenaline and lower levels of plasma cortisol. These results fit the hypothesis that psoriatic patients perceive certain challenging situations as more stressful than do nonpsoriatic controls, and react accordingly in their differential psychoendocrine reaction pattern. Possible pathophysiologic implications of the different pituitary-adrenocortical and sympatho-adrenomedullary reactions in psoriatics submitted to stressor exposure are discussed.