Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found that the risk of heart attack was tripled for patients who had psoriasis during their thirties.

One possible explanation is that the same abnormalities in the immune system that cause psoriasis also may contribute to cardiovascular disease.

Psoriasis is a condition of the skin and joints that commonly causes red scaly patches to appear on the skin. It has been associated with heart disease in previous studies, but this one, which involved 550,000 people in the UK, provides the most compelling evidence to date.