title: Risk of myocardial infarction in canadian patients with psoriasis: a retrospective cohort study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Studies have shown that psoriatic patients are at increased risk for myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke. There is a lack of data on MI risk in Canadian psoriatic patients.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To compare MI risk in Canadian psoriatic patients to that in control patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a retrospective cohort study using Quebec's health insurance database (2005-2010) comparing MI risk in psoriatic patients to that in matched controls. Severe psoriasis was defined as any diagnosed psoriatic patient who used phototherapy or oral or injectable psoriasis treatments. Adjustments were made for several MI risk factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 31,421 patients in the psoriasis population, of which 5,159 had severe psoriasis. The unadjusted MI incidence rate per 1,000 person-years was 4.88 (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 4.50-5.20), 5.58 (95% CI 5.10-6.10), and 5.32 (95% CI 4.40-6.40) for the control and mild and severe psoriasis groups, respectively. After adjustments, the hazard ratio of MI was significantly higher for psoriatic patients than for controls (1.17; 95% CI 1.04-1.31). The hazard ratio was also significantly higher than for controls in the mild psoriasis group (1.18; 95% CI 1.05-1.33) but not in the severe psoriasis group (1.16; 95% CI 0.94-1.42).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The relative MI risk is higher for Canadian psoriatic patients than for controls.
authors.forename: Annie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Levesque
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lachaine
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bissonnette
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011565:Psoriasis / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D011792:Quebec / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D012307:Risk Factors; D055815:Young Adult