People with severe psoriasis are 67% more likely to have an enlarged abdominal aorta. This pathology can be fatal.
Psoriasis is not just a skin disease. In any case, this is what Usman Khalid, doctoral student in the cardiology department of the Herley and Gentofte hospital (Denmark) suggests. He is the author of a study published in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, which shows an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. It increases with the severity of symptoms.
To reach these conclusions, the researchers followed several thousand people through the Danish population registers. Of these, 59,400 suffered from moderate psoriasis, 11,500 from a severe form of this autoimmune disease. Analysis of their medical records shows that they are also at greater risk than the general population of developing an abdominal aortic aneurysm. This cardiovascular pathology is characterized by the dilation of the aorta which crosses the abdomen. No symptoms appear until the rupture, which can be fatal.
Target prevention
A priori, no link between these two conditions. In the general population, 3 people per 100,000 followed for a year will develop such an aneurysm. In patients with psoriasis, 7.3 people will develop this cardiovascular disease. When the autoimmune pathology is severe, they are 9.87 per 100,000. This corresponds to a relative risk increase of 67%.
“Psoriasis should be viewed as a systemic inflammatory disease rather than an isolated skin disease,” Usman Khalid believes. This awareness would allow physicians to develop targeted prevention strategies. They consist in reducing the cardiovascular risk of these patients by adapting their lifestyle. But it will first be necessary to ensure that psoriasis is indeed an independent risk factor. The researchers also want to assess the value of taking anti-inflammatory drugs for prevention.
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