People with psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis have a higher proportion of dangerous belly fat compared to safe fat under the skin, even when their overall weight is similar to healthy people.

Scientific Claim

The ratio of visceral to subcutaneous adipose tissue is 13.6% higher in psoriatic disease patients compared to BMI-matched controls (p < 0.01).

Original Statement

“MRI segmentation revealed that the PsD group had a 5.9% greater whole-body VAT volume and a 13.6% greater VAT/SAT ratio compared to BMI/ethnicity-matched controls (P < 0.01)”

From study:More than skin-deep: visceral fat is strongly associated with disease activity, function and metabolic indices in psoriatic disease

Evidence Quality Assessment

Claim Status

appropriately stated

Study Design Support

Design supports claim

Appropriate Language Strength

association

Can only show association/correlation

Assessment Explanation

The study is observational and cross-sectional, so it can describe group differences but not causation. The verb 'higher' is appropriate for a descriptive comparison between groups.

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

More than skin-deep: visceral fat is strongly associated with disease activity, function and metabolic indices in psoriatic disease

Cross-Sectional Study

Human

2023 Jun 23

Contradicting (0)

No contradicting evidence found

Source Study

More than skin-deep: visceral fat is strongly associated with disease activity, function and metabolic indices in psoriatic disease

Score: 42

DOI: 10.1186/s13075-023-03085-9

Similar Assertions

People with psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis have a higher proportion of visceral fat within their abdominal cavity compared to healthy individuals with similar body weight.

95%

People with psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis have about 6% more fat around their internal organs than people without these conditions, even when they have the same body weight.

93%

People with psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis have slightly more fat under the skin than healthy people with similar body weight, though this difference is not statistically significant.

91%

Measuring belly fat is more useful for understanding health risks in psoriasis patients than just checking body weight.

87%

More visceral fat in people with psoriasis is linked to higher insulin resistance, a key factor in diabetes risk, based on statistical analysis of the data.

79%