Epicardial fat thickness in patients with psoriasis vulgaris.
OBJECTIVE
Psoriasis vulgaris is one of the most common skin disorders. Patients with psoriasis carry an excessive risk of coronary artery disease. Visceral adipose tissue around the heart affects the heart and coronaries by secreting proatherogenic mediators. It can be evaluated easily by measurement of epicardial fat thickness (EFT). The aim of this study was to investigate EFT in patients with psoriasis vulgaris.


METHODS
One hundred and fifteen adult patients (62 male; mean age 33.6±6.0 years) with psoriasis vulgaris (Group 1) and 60 age- and sex-matched healthy individuals (28 male; mean age, 32.5±8.3 years) (Group 2) were included in this study. EFT was obtained by transthoracic echocardiography. Disease-specific characteristics of the patients were recorded. Serum glucose, lipid profile and high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels were measured.


RESULTS
EFT and hs-CRP were significantly higher in Group 1 than in Group 2 (5.7±1.2 vs. 4.1±1.0 mm, p<0.001 and 0.52±0.45 mg/dl vs. 0.19±0.17 mg/dl, p<0.001, respectively). The psoriasis disease activity score and hs-CRP were found to be independent predictors of EFT in patients with psoriasis vulgaris (ß=0.21, t=2.67, p=0.01 and ß=0.62, t=7.72, p=0.001, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings indicate that EFT was significantly higher in patients with psoriasis vulgaris compared with the controls. It was more prominent in patients with severe disease.
Department of Cardiology, Bezmialem University Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul, Turkey. ahmetbacaxiz@gmail.com.
Ahmet
A
Bacaksız
Department of Cardiology, Bezmialem University Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul, Turkey.
Abdurrahman
A
Tasal
Department of Cardiology, Bezmialem University Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul, Turkey.
Emrah
E
Sevgili
Department of Cardiology, Bezmialem University Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul, Turkey.
Ercan
E
Erdoğan
Department of Dermatology, Bezmialem University Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul, Turkey.
Nahide
N
Onsun
Department of Cardiology, Bezmialem University Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul, Turkey.
Osman
O
Sönmez
Department of Dermatology, Bezmialem University Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul, Turkey.
Buğçe
B
Topukcu
Department of Cardiology, Bezmialem University Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul, Turkey.
Emin
E
Asoğlu
Department of Cardiology, Bezmialem University Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul, Turkey.
Omer
O
Göktekin
D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D050152:Intra-Abdominal Fat / Q000502:physiology*; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D010496:Pericardium / Q000502:physiology*; D011565:Psoriasis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult
D008055:Lipids; D002097:C-Reactive Protein