ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

Giornale Italiano di Dermatologia e Venereologia 2014 April;149(2):167-75

Copyright © 2014 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Atherosclerosis, some serum inflammatory markers in psoriasis

Alpsoy S. ¹, Akyuz A. ¹, Erfan G. ², Akkoyun D. C. ¹, Topcu B. ³, Guzel S. ⁴, Kaya S. ², Kulac M. ² ✉

¹ Department of Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine, Namık Kemal University, Tekirdag, Turkey; ² Department of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine, Namık Kemal University, Tekirdag, Turkey; ³ Department of Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine, Namık Kemal University, Tekirdag, Turkey; ⁴ Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Namık Kemal University, Tekirdag, Turkey

AIM: Psoriasis is an autoimmune inflammatory disease which is associated with increased inflammatory markers and atherosclerosis. We wanted to investigate whether there is a relationship between some inflammatory markers and subclinical atherosclerosis markers.
METHODS: We studied 60 psoriasis patients and 50 healthy controls. Demographic, biochemical parameters, C3, C4, d-dimer, CRP, fibrinogen and YKL-40 (human cartilage glycoprotein-39) levels were measured. After measuring carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) and aortic elasticity parameters such as aortic strain, (beta) stiffness index and compliance, statistical comparisons were done.
RESULTS: Patients with psoriasis had significantly higher diastolic blood pressure, CRP, fibrinogen, C3, uric acid levels, β-stiffness index, and cIMT values than the control group. cIMT was correlated with CRP, YKL-40 and psoriasis area and severity index (PASI) score (r=0.219, P=0.038; r=0.225, P=0.033 and r=0.275, P=0.034). Aortic strain (%), aortic compliance and aortic stiffness index were correlated with C3 (r=-0.349, r=-0.526 and r=0.235) and fibrinogen (r=-0.354, r=-0.275 and r=0.289), all P values <0.05, but not with PASI score. The presence of psoriasis was related to aortic strain (β±SE: -2.055±0.861, P=0.019) and β-stiffness index (β±SE: 2.934±1.143, P=0.012).
CONCLUSION: Serum C3, CRP, fibrinogen and YKL-40 levels are elevated as well as increased cIMT and impaired aortic elasticity in psoriasis. CRP, YKL-40 and PASI score are correlated with cIMT. Increased serum C3 and fibrinogen levels correlate negatively with aortic strain and aortic compliance, and correlate positively with the β-stiffness index.