[Coronary artery disease in patients with psoriasis]

Abstract

In previous reports, psoriasis was associated with an increased rate of coronary artery disease. These data has not been investigated in our population. We performed a cross-sectional study analyzing data from electronic medical records of a health system in Buenos Aires. We included all patients older than 18 years diagnosed with psoriasis between January 1, 2003 and July 31, 2011 and compared them with a control group. Controls were selected randomly by strata of age and sex from the same health system in a 2:1 ratio. We determined the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors and coronary heart disease. We analyzed the association between psoriasis and coronary artery disease by both univariate and multivariate analyzes. In total, 3 833 subjects were included (1 286 with psoriasis and 2 547 controls). The prevalence of hypertension (50% vs. 38%, p < 0.001), smoking (25% vs. 17%, p < 0.001), diabetes (12% vs. 8%, p < 0.001) and coronary artery disease (4.98% vs. 3.06%, p = 0.003) were higher in the psoriasis group compared to controls. Regardless age and the presence or absence of diabetes, hypertension or smoking, there was a significant association between coronary artery disease and psoriasis (OR 1.48, CI95% 1.04-2.11, p = 0.03). In conclusion, in this population of Buenos Aires, psoriasis patients had a higher prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, smoking, and coronary artery disease. The association between psoriasis and coronary artery disease was independent of the risk factors explored.

Keywords: coronary artery disease; diabetes; hypertension; psoriasis; smoking.