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Psoriasis, type 2 diabetes have similar association with coronary artery calcium

Patients with psoriasis had an association with coronary artery calcium that was similar to patients with type 2 diabetes, according to recent study results published in JAMA Dermatology.

Researchers studied 387 unrelated individuals (49.6% men) who were recruited from clinics: Patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis without type 2 diabetes; patients with type 2 diabetes without psoriasis or other inflammatory diseases; and age- and sex-matched healthy controls without psoriasis, type 2 diabetes or other inflammatory diseases.

The psoriasis, type 2 diabetes and healthy control cohorts had mean ages of 51, 52 and 52 years, respectively.

“Patients with psoriasis had low cardiovascular risk measured by the Framingham Risk score but had a high prevalence of cardiovascular and cardiometabolic risk factors, similar to patients with type 2 diabetes,” the researchers wrote.

Psoriasis was associated with coronary artery calcium (Tobit regression ratio [TRR] = 0.89; 95% CI, 0.35-1.44), which was similar to the association in type 2 diabetes (TRR = 0.79; 95% CI, 0.02-1.55), when fully adjusted for age, sex, cardiovascular risk factors, cardiometabolic risk factors and medication use.

Using logistic regression in fully adjusted models, there was an independent association between psoriasis and the presence of any coronary artery calcium (OR = 2.35; 95% CI, 1.12-4.94), while there was no significant association between coronary artery calcium and type 2 diabetes when BMI was added to the model (OR = 2.18; 95% CI, 0.75-6.35).

“Psoriasis increases [coronary artery calcium] scores to the extent of what is observed in type 2 diabetes, independent of the effect of cardiovascular and cardiometabolic risk factors,” the researchers concluded. “Psoriasis and type 2 diabetes share similar cardiovascular risk profiles, which may predispose patients to developing coronary atherosclerosis at a relatively young age.” – by Bruce Thiel

Disclosure: Mansouri reports serving on an advisory board member for Celgene, receiving honorarium. Please see the full study for other researchers’ relevant financial disclosures.