Relationship between Psoriasis and Prevalence of Cardiovascular Disease in 88 Japanese Patients

Abstract

Psoriasis is a systemic inflammatory disease known to affect survival in the presence of cerebral or cardiovascular comorbidities. However, no clear guidelines have been defined regarding the extent of vascular lesion testing that should be performed in patients with psoriasis. We therefore performed coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) in 88 Japanese patients with psoriasis who visited Kansai Medical University Hospital between 2015 and 2019 and determined the ankle–brachial pressure index (ABI) for 44 of these patients. CCTA abnormalities were found in 39 of the 88 patients, and a need for treatment was identified in 14 patients. The prevalence of cardiovascular lesions in these patients was 15.9%, significantly higher than that in the healthy Japanese population (6.38% according to the Suita Study). In the 44 patients with results for both ABI and CCTA, the rates of CCTA vascular lesions were significantly higher in cases with ABIs indicating hard vessels or above than in cases with supple, normal, or slightly stiff vessels. This is the first report to show a correlation between CCTA and ABI in psoriasis patients. ABI was considered useful as a preliminary test before CCTA. The univariate analysis of the abnormal and normal CCTA groups showed that the prevalence differed significantly among patients with psoriatic arthritis, erythrodermic psoriasis, older age, pre-existing conditions, drinking, and hypertension. The multivariate analysis showed correlations with arthritic or erythrodermic psoriasis.