Evaluation of epicardial adipose tissue volume and coronary artery calcification in Japanese patients with psoriasis vulgaris

Abstract

Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) is implicated in the development of coronary atherosclerosis by secretion of inflammatory adipocytokines. Recent studies have shown significantly higher EAT volume in psoriatic patients compared with that in control subjects, but this has not been validated in Japanese patients. We enrolled 86 Japanese patients with moderate to severe psoriasis vulgaris and 31 control subjects, and evaluated EAT volume and coronary artery calcification (CAC) by retrospectively assessing non-enhanced computed tomography obtained through routine examinations. Both mean EAT volume and mean CAC score were not significantly different between the two groups. Interestingly, however, a subanalysis with those of 50 years of age or less (28 psoriatic patients and seven non-psoriatic subjects) showed significantly higher mean EAT volume in psoriatic patients. Similarly, the ratio of the presence of at least one CAC was significantly higher in this group. Our findings suggest that Japanese psoriatic patients should also be aware of the cardiovascular risk, and EAT volume and CAC may be useful tools to predict such risk.

Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor in Atopic Dermatitis and Psoriasis

“…The autoimmune nature of psoriasis is exemplified by its high comorbidity with psoriatic arthritis [110,116,117,118] and other autoimmune diseases including autoimmune bullous diseases [119,120,121,122,123,124]. Psoriasis is also comorbid with cardiovascular diseases, metabolic diseases, and renal disorders, which represent a condition called inflammatory skin march [111,125,126,127,128,129]. The excellent therapeutic efficacy of anti-TNF-α/IL-23/IL-17A biologics for psoriasis point to the central role of the TNF-α/IL-23/IL-17A axis in its pathogenesis [18,19,130,131,132,133,134] Additionally, genetic and environmental factors are known to be involved in its pathogenesis [135,136].…”

Epicardial adipose tissue and atrial fibrillation: Possible mechanisms, potential therapies, and future directions

“…In addition, EAT was independently associated with increased 18‐F‐fluorodeoxyglucose uptake, which could be detected by positron emission computed tomography (PET‐CT), indicating inflammation within EAT . Moreover, a higher degree of EAT accumulation is often observed in patients with systematic inflammatory disease, such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis, compared with those without systematic inflammatory disease even after adjusting other risk factors . Thus, it is possible that a potential association exists among systematic inflammation, local inflammation of EAT and AF.…”

Interleukin-17A and Keratinocytes in Psoriasis

“…Psoriasis is also significantly comorbid with other autoimmune diseases, such as bullous pemphigoid [20][21][22][23][24]. Psoriasis is frequently associated with cardiovascular diseases, metabolic diseases, and renal disorders [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]. Cancer risk is slightly higher in patients with psoriasis [37].…”