Cardiovascular risk in psoriatic arthritis

AIM: To evaluate cardiovascular risk in psoriatic arthritis (PA). MATERIAL AND METHODS: The examination covered 61 PA patients (52.9% females) aged 30-55 years and 45 controls without inflammatory and degeneratory diseases matched by gender, age and body mass. Standard cardiovascular risk factors were analysed. C-reactive protein was measured with a highly sensitive method. Carotid arteries were subjected to duplex scanning. RESULTS: PA patients had a high cardiovascular risk. Dyslipidemia manifested with a high total cholesterol, LDLP cholesterol which correlated with inflammation activity. PA was more frequently associated with subclinical atherosclerosis and atherosclerotic plaques. CONCLUSION: Chronic immune inflammation underlying pathogenesis of PA contributes to development of early atherosclerosis and its complications. A high cardiovascular risk is a constituent of PA which had an impact on long-term prognosis of this disease.