Traditional and Non-traditional Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Cardiovascular Disease in Women with Psoriasis

Women with cardiovascular disease are underdiagnosed, undertreated and under-represented in research. Even though the increased risk of cardiovascular disease among patients with psoriasis is well established, only a few studies have examined women with psoriasis. This study examined the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors and cardiovascular disease among women with psoriasis. Using the Copenhagen City Heart Study and the Copenhagen General Population Study, 66,420 women were included in a cross-sectional design. Of these, 374 (0.56%) women had hospital-diagnosed psoriasis. Women with vs without hospital-diagnosed psoriasis had higher odds ratios of having traditional cardiovascular risk factors, including hypertriglyceridaemia, smoking, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and low physical activity, and of having nontraditional cardiovascular risk factors, including low level of education, high level of psychosocial stress, and low-grade inflammation. Compared with women from the general population, the multivariable adjusted odds ratio of heart failure and ischaemic cerebrovascular disease in women with hospital-diagnosed psoriasis was 2.51 (95% confidence interval 1.33–4.73) and 2.06 (1.27–3.35). In conclusion, women with hospital-diagnosed psoriasis have a higher prevalence of traditional and nontraditional cardiovascular risk factors, and increased risk of heart failure and ischaemic cerebrovascular disease, even after adjusting for these cardiovascular risk factors.