- Researchers report that people with severe psoriasis have a higher risk of heart disease.
- They note that typical scans for heart disease do not show blockages in the small blood vessels.
- They say it is important for people with impaired blood flow to aggressively target heart disease risk factors.
In the most extensive study to date to look at coronary blood flow and the link between psoriasis and heart disease, scientists reported a high prevalence of coronary microvascular dysfunction in more than 30% of people with psoriasis who had no symptoms of cardiovascular disease.
Those findings were published today in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.
The researchers specifically looked at the
They reported that inflammation seems to decrease blood flow.
For the study, 503 people with psoriasis but without a diagnosis of cardiovascular disease underwent a Doppler echocardiogram to evaluate coronary microcirculation. More than 30% of participants had undiagnosed coronary microvascular dysfunction.
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The researchers note there is growing evidence of inflammatory diseases, including psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and inflammatory bowel disease, with a higher prevalence of endothelial and cardiovascular microvascular dysfunction in the absence of clinically apparent cardiovascular disease.
The researchers for this study wanted to further investigate the connection between psoriasis and coronary microvascular dysfunction.
Based on the study results, they determined that systemic inflammation plays a role in the development of coronary microvascular dysfunction, but there was no association with
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