Background
Patients with severe psoriasis have an increased cardiovascular (CV) risk and prevalence of subclinical coronary artery disease (CAD). Coronary artery calcium (CAC) testing can detect subclinical CAD and improve cardiovascular risk assessment beyond clinical scores.
Objectives
Evaluate the presence and magnitude of subclinical CAD determined by CAC score among the different ESC/EAS CV risk categories, as well as the potential for risk reclassification, in patients with severe psoriasis from a low CV risk population.
Methods
Unicentric cross-sectional study in 111 patients with severe chronic plaque psoriasis from a low CV risk population in the Mediterranean region. Patients were classified into four CV risk categories according to the ESC/EAS guideline recommendations and HeartScore/SCORE calibrated charts. Patients underwent coronary computed tomography to determine their CAC scores. Patients in the moderate-risk category with a CAC score of ≥100 were considered to be reclassified as recommended by the 2019 ESC/EAS guidelines. Reclassification was also considered for patients in the low-risk category with a CAC score>0.
Results
Presence of subclinical CAD was detected in 46 (41.4%) patients. These accounted for 86.2% of patients in high/very-high-risk categories and 25.6% of patients in non-high-risk categories. Fourteen (17.1%) of the patients in non-high-risk categories were reclassifiable due to their CAC score. This percentage was higher (25%) when considering the moderate-risk category alone and lower (13.8%) in the low-risk category. Age was the only variable associated with presence of subclinical CAD and reclassification.
Conclusions
Over 40% of patients with severe psoriasis from a low-risk region and up to 25% of those in non-high-risk categories have subclinical CAD. CAC appears to be useful for reclassification purposes in CV risk assessment of patients with severe psoriasis. Further research is required to elucidate how CAC could be implemented in everyday practice at outpatient dermatology clinics dedicated to severe psoriasis.
