Prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in psoriasis patients

Objective To assess the prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in patients with psoriasis. Patients and methods The study group included seventy-three patients with psoriasis aged 20-50 years and an equally sized sex and age matched control group. CVD risk factors including diabetes mellitus (DM), hypertension (HTN), dyslipidemia, obesity and smoking history were assessed. Results Most of the CVD risk factors were more prevalent in psoriasis patients versus controls. The risk factors with a positive correlation included: DM (OR: 4.96, CI: 1.165-14.89), HTN (OR:3.16, CI:1.01-9.81), hypertriglyceridemia (OR:3.91, CI: 1.51-10.09), obesity (OR: 2.74, CI: 1.34-5.60) and increased level of low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) (OR:1.77, CI:1.08-1.73). No significant differences were found between two groups for high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) and cigarette smoking. Conclusion CVD risk factors were more common in this young and middle aged psoriasis patients group, so early screening test for CVD risk factors is recommended in this group of patients