Psoriasis and cardiovascular risk factors: observational study in an urban population of the North Region of Portugal

Abstract

Objectives: Several studies have demonstrated the association between psoriasis and diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension, dyslipidemia, smoking and obesity. This paper aims to determine if there is an association among psoriasis and cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) in an urban population of the north of Portugal. Type of study: Observational, cross-sectional study. Local: Healthcare units of the authors. Population: Urban population of the North Region of Portugal. Methods: There were included all patients from the healthcare units of the authors with ≥18 years old and psoriasis diagnosis in January 2015. The comparison group was randomized at a ratio of 3:1. Data were collected relative to smoking, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, obesity and dyslipidemia. We used the chi-square test and logistic regression to assess the existence of association between variables. Results: We analyzed 1,980 patients in total, 51.4 % were female with the mean age of 49.7 years (SD=17.2). Within this total, 495 patients had a diagnosis of psoriasis. From a comparative analysis, the group with psoriasis has a higher percentage of smoking (25.9%), hypertension (35.2%), DM (15.6%), obesity (25.9%), dyslipidemia (28.9%) with statistical significance at the 95% confidence interval. After the control of confounding factors, we verified an independent statistically significant association concerning psoriasis and age, male gender, obesity and smoking. Conclusions: This study showed an increased frequency of CVRF in the group with psoriasis. It is important to emphasize that it was only established an association, not a causal relationship. However, this study alerts to the need to identify and control the CVRF in patients with psoriasis.