Carotid intima-media thickness in patients with mild or moderate psoriasis

Abstract

IntroductionPsoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease associated with a significantly higher morbidity and various comorbidities (obesity, metabolic syndrome, diabetes). Previous studies focused mainly on patients with severe psoriasis who were found to have increased markers of early atherosclerosis, higher intima-media thickness (IMT) values.AimTo evaluate the association between the severity or duration of psoriasis and carotid IMT in patients with mild and moderate psoriasis.Material and methodsWe studied seventy four patients with mild and moderate psoriasis. Clinical assessment and common carotid artery (CCA) IMT measurements were performed in all patients.ResultsThe mean CCA IMT value was 1.03 ±0.37 mm, mean PASI score (psoriasis area severity index) was 18.6 ±10.5. There was a significant association between PASI score and IMT values (r = 0.33; p = 0.007) adjusted for age, psoriasis duration, blood pressure and smoking. However, we found no correlations between carotid IMT and disease duration or other clinical variables.ConclusionsThe severity of psoriasis is associated with carotid IMT even in patients with mild and moderate psoriasis.

Serum markers for asymptomatic atherosclerosis in Egyptian psoriatic patients: study controlled by Doppler estimation of carotid intima-media thickness

“…Doppler examination of both common carotid arteries defined 40 psoriatic patients with CIMT of >0.9 mm, which is a cut-off point for diagnosis of AAS. 3 In line with these findings, Bańska-Kisiel et al 1 reported a high prevalence of early AS in psoriatic patients and concluded that psoriasis may contribute to an accelerated systemic inflammatory cascade resulting in increased risk of CV events. Fang et al 15 suggested that patients with psoriasis are associated with excessive risk of AAS and monitoring of CIMT may be recommended to identify psoriatic patients at a higher risk for CV events.…”

Psoriasis and Cardiovascular Comorbidities: Focusing on Severe Vascular Events, Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Implications for Treatment

“…Using carotid artery ultrasound, various studies have found that patients with psoriasis have greater carotid intima-media thickness compared to healthy controls, indicating carotid atherosclerosis [ 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 ]. The severity of skin disease (measured by Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) score) has been found to correlate with carotid intima-media thickness values [ 75 ]. A recent meta-analysis of 20 studies also confirmed that patients with psoriasis have greater carotid intima-media thickness values and decreased flow-mediated dilation compared to healthy controls, thus demonstrating an association between psoriasis and subclinical carotid atherosclerosis [ 76 ].…”

Risk of cardiovascular diseases in psoriasis – the current state of knowledge

“…Psoriatic patients had a greater thickness of the intima-media complex of the internal carotid artery than the control group (0.61 ±0.01 mm vs. 0.37 ±0.01 mm) [7]. Then, Bańska-Kisiel et al [13] concluded that the severity of psoriasis measured by means of PASI showed a significant correlation with the values of intima-media complex of the internal carotid artery. Naik et al [14] used positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) and showed that psoriatic patients undergo a more intensified inflammation within the aorta, and there exists a dependency between severity of psoriasis and the level of inflammation in the vessels.…”

“…Bańska--Kisiel i wsp. [13] stwierdzili, że ciężkość łuszczycy mierzona za pomocą PASI istotnie koreluje z wartościami kompleksu intima-media tętnicy szyjnej wewnętrznej. Naik i wsp.…”