Echocardiographic and electrocardiographic assessments in patients with psoriasis

BACKGROUND: Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease affecting many organs. Recent studies have demonstrated that psoriasis is associated with cardiovascular disorders. We investigated the echocardiographic and conduction system changes in psoriasis patients. METHODS: In this case-control study, 36 psoriatic patients and 36 healthy controls were enrolled. Demographic and clinical data, echocardiographic and P wave dispersion (PWD) in 12-lead electrocardiogram were evaluated in both groups. We recruited patients with confirmed diagnosis via biopsy and have not been under recent systemic treatment. Patients with underlying cardiovascular disease were excluded from the study. RESULTS: Mean age was 41.56±16.20 and 39.67±13.85 year in case and control groups, respectively. There was no significant difference in the baseline characteristics of the two groups. PWD was significantly higher in the case group (p<0.05). High pulmonary artery pressure was observed in 14 psoriatic patients and 1 individual in the control group (p<0.001). Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction was significantly higher among individuals who were above 60 years of age (p<0.01) but not significantly different between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Psoriatic patients are more susceptible to future development of atrial fibrillation because of higher PWD. There is no significant difference between the diastolic function in these patients.