Echocardiographic findings in subjects with psoriatic arthropathy.
BACKGROUND
Psoriatic arthropathy (PA) is a seronegative arthropathy with a 5-20% prevalence among psoriatics. In recent years, cardiovascular abnormalities have been shown in patients with seronegative arthropathies.


OBJECTIVE
Since echocardiography is a non-invasive method to evidence cardiac abnormalities, we planned a study to evaluate heart involvement in subjects with psoriatic athropathy using this method.


METHODS
A total of 21 subjects (15 women, six men) aged from 34 to 71 years were involved in this study. After PA diagnosis was confirmed by skeletal scintigraphic survey, patients were evaluated by Doppler echocardiogram for cardiovascular disturbances and the results were compared with those for a sex- and age-matched control group.


RESULTS
The left ventricle end-diastolic and end-systolic diameters of the PA group were statistically different from those of the control group (P < 0.05), but no difference was observed in ejection fraction and the mitral E/A ratios. The presence of diastolic dysfunction was significantly related to the presence of arthropathy and the duration of psoriasis (P < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that mild diastolic dysfunction may accompany PA but our data should be confirmed by further studies.
Saricaoglu
H
H
Uludad University Medical Faculty, Department of Dermatology, Bursa, Turkey. hayriye@uludag.edu.tr
Güllülü
S
S
Bülbül Baskan
E
E
Cordan
J
J
Tunali
S
S
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015535:Arthritis, Psoriatic / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D018619:Echocardiography, Doppler, Pulsed; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006334:Heart Function Tests; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011336:Probability; D012016:Reference Values; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013318:Stroke Volume; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*