MedWire News: Psoriasis patients have increased carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) and impaired endothelial function compared with healthy individuals, indicating an increased risk of subclinical atherosclerosis, say Turkish researchers.

D Balci and colleagues from Mustafa Kemal University Faculty of Medicine in Antakya used ultrasonography to measure flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) and nitroglycerin-induced dilatation (NTD) of the brachial artery and IMT of the common carotid arteries (CCA) in 43 psoriasis patients and 43 healthy age- and gender-matched controls.

Patients and controls were comparable in terms of body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, smoking status, total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, and triglyceride levels. However, average high-density lipoprotein cholesterol was significantly lower in patients than controls.

Psoriasis patients had significantly higher average IMT values of the right, left and averaged CCA than control individuals, at 0.607 mm versus 0.532 mm, 0.611 mm versus 0.521 mm, and 0.609 mm versus 0.526 mm, respectively.

Psoriasis patients also had significantly lower average FMD and NTD values than controls, at 13.36 mm versus 19.60 mm, and 21.08 mm versus 26.85 mm, respectively.

On multivariate analysis, IMT values were significantly associated with age and the presence of psoriasis, while FMD values were associated with age, gender, the presence of psoriasis, and disease duration, and NTD values were linked to age and the presence of psoriasis. There was no association with Psoriasis Area and Severity Index scores.

The team concludes in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology: "Our data showed that the presence of psoriasis was an independent risk factor for subclinical atherosclerosis, possibly due to chronic inflammation."

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