Nakisa Niknejad - Hamedan University of Medical Sciences, Besat Hospital,Hamedan, Iran
Mohammad Shahidi-Dadras - Hamedan University of Medical Sciences, Besat Hospital,Hamedan, Iran
Hamidreza Haghighat Khah - Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Shohadae-Tajrish Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Fatemeh Rajabi - Skin Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Shohada-e-Tajrish Hospital,Tehran, Iran

Introduction: Psoriasis increases the risk of cardiovascular events both independently and by provoking metabolic syndrome. Common carotid artery mean intima-media thickness (MIMT) is used as a diagnostic tool to assess subclinical atherosclerosis. Objectives:Our aim was to investigate the association of psoriasis with ventricular dysfunction using a very well-known cardiac biomarker, N-terminal pro b-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP). We also wanted to assess the correlation between NT-proBNP levels and MIMT.Methods: The study is a retrospective cohort of sixty-one patients with chronic plaque psoriasis and sixty-one healthy, age and sex-matched volunteers. MIMT was assessed via ultrasonography and serum levels of NT-proBNP were measured by electrochemiluminescence. Results: The median NT-proBNP level was 26.67 (InterQuartile range (IQR): 15.15 to 43.03 and range: 5 to 250) in patients with psoriasis and 17.45 (IQR: 12.35 to 20.80 and range: 5 to 45.09) in controls (P< 0.001). The mean MIMT was significantly higher in psoriasis patients than control subjects (0.77±0.19 and 0.52±0.10, respectively and P<0.0001). Psoriasis was significantly associated with high NT-proBNP after controlling the effects of age and gender of participants (adjusted R2=0.24, F=13.40 and p<0.0001). MIMT was positively correlated with age and serum NT-proBNP level in both groups. Age, serum NT-proBNP level and presence of psoriasis positively associated with MIMT.Conclusion: NT-proBNP levels may be used as a predictor of heart disease in patients diagnosed with psoriasis.

Psoriasis, NT-pro BNP, subclinical atherosclerosis