Psoriasis Severity Escalates Risk for Aortic Aneurysm

While it has been known for some time that psoriasis patients are at increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease and other comorbidities, new research has shown that these patients also have a higher risk of developing aortic aneurysms.

According to Hsien-Yi Chiu, MD, department of dermatology, National Taiwan University Hospital, “Although several risk factors associated with aortic aneurysm are more prevalent in patients with psoriasis, because of shared inflammatory pathogenesis, data on aortic comorbidity in such patients are scarce.”

However, to understand the risk for aortic aneurysm among patients with psoriasis, Chu and his team used the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database to identify 34,301 patients with psoriasis from 2004 to 2006, and included 137,204 control subjects without psoriasis.

After following the patients and controls for five years, the team found that the psoriasis patients exhibited an increased overall risk for aortic aneurysm that increased with the severity of psoriasis. The perceived increased risk was higher for men than women, and for patients younger than 50 years old.

Chiu concluded, “We found patients with psoriasis to have relatively higher risk for [aortic aneurysm], even after adjustment, suggesting the involvement of other factors that are intrinsically linked to psoriasis and independent from established cardiovascular risk factors.”

While further research is underway, experts advise regular screening for aortic aneurysm in younger male psoriasis patients presenting with severe symptoms.