“ROLE OF SERUM ADENOSINE DEAMINASE ACTIVITY IN ASSESSING PSORIASIS SEVERITY: A HOSPITAL-BASED CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY”

BACKGROUND: Psoriasis is a common, chronic, inflammatory and proliferative condition of the skin, often associated with systemic manifestations in multiple organ systems. World Health Organization (WHO) considered psoriasis as a global health problem. In India the prevalence of psoriasis ranges from 0.4-2.8%. The reported prevalence of psoriasis in countries ranges between 0.09% and 11.4% making psoriasis a serious global problem. PASI is recommended as the current gold standard for assessing the severity of psoriasis and for clinical trials. AIM: To assess the role of serum adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity in predicting disease severity in psoriasis patients. MATERIAL & METHODS: This hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Biochemistry and Department of Physiology, over a period of 12 months.  A total of 150 newly diagnosed psoriasis patients attending OPD and IPD were included. Disease severity was scored according to the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI). RESULTS: The majority of patients were males (70%) with mean age 37.6 ± 10.3 years. Mean serum ADA level was 24.1 ± 5.2 U/L, significantly higher than reference values (p<0.0001). ADA levels increased with severity: 20.8 ± 2.1 U/L in mild, 28.6 ± 1.4 U/L in moderate, and 31.7 ± 4.2 U/L in severe psoriasis. ADA showed strong positive correlation with PASI score (r=0.978, p<0.0001). CONCLUSION: Serum adenosine deaminase activity demonstrates a significant positive correlation with disease severity in psoriasis. It may serve as a simple, reliable biomarker for assessing disease severity and monitoring therapeutic outcomes.