title: Influence of severity of the cutaneous manifestations and age on the prevalence of several cardiovascular risk factors in patients with psoriasis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Psoriasis is a disease with proinflammatory state that has been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a cross-sectional, observational study, with analysis of 98 patients being treated for psoriasis. Several variables were analysed: gender, age, weight, height, Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI), blood pressure, blood glucose, blood lipids, obesity, metabolic syndrome (MS) and Framingham score.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ninety-eight patients were analysed (51 men; 52.0%). Age ranged from 12 years to 98 years. About 67% of the patients had dyslipidaemia, 14.3% had type 2 diabetes mellitus and 59.2% had systemic arterial hypertension. Forty-four percentage of patients had the MS and 27.6% had a body mass index >30 kg/m(2). The Psoriasis Area and Severiy Index were equal or over 10 in 27 patients, 18 of whom had dyslipidaemia (P = 0.929) and 14 of whom had the MS (P = 0.327). Seventy-four patients were over the age of 40 years and, of these, 56 had dyslipidaemia (P = 0.002) and 41 had the MS (P < 0.001). For 89 patients, whose cardiovascular risk was calculated according to the Framingham criteria, 71.4% at high or moderate risk had a PASI below 10 (P = 0.945) and 100% at high or moderate risk were over the age of 40 years (P = 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There was strong evidence that psoriasis patients have an increased cardiovascular risk, chiefly those over the age of 40 years, probably because of the chronic inflammatory state. It seems that the severity of the cutaneous manifestations was not associated with a higher risk in these patients.
authors.affiliation: Physician of the Dermatology Division of the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora, Brazil. dariojfr@hotmail.com
authors.forename: D J F
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Rosa
authors.forename: R F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Machado
authors.forename: F A T
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Matias
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Cedrim
authors.forename: F L
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Noronha
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gaburri
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gamonal
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D050171:Dyslipidemias / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D011565:Psoriasis / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index