Predicting abnormal epicardial adipose tissue in psoriasis patients by integrating radiomics from non-contrast chest CT with serological biomarkers.

BACKGROUND

Psoriasis patients frequently present with cardiovascular comorbidities, which maybe associated with abnormal epicardial adipose tissue (EAT). This study aimed to evaluate the predictive value of radiomics features derived from non-contrast chest CT (NCCT) combined with serological parameters for identifying abnormal EAT in psoriasis.

METHODS

In this retrospective case-control study, we enrolled consecutive psoriasis patients who underwent chest NCCT between September 2021 and February 2024, along with a matched healthy control group. Psoriasis patients were stratified into mild-to-moderate (PASI ≤ 10) and severe (PASI > 10) groups based on the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI). Using TIMESlice, we extracted EAT volume, CT values, and 86 radiomics features. The cohort was randomly divided into a training (70%) and test (30%) set. LASSO regression selected radiomic features to calculate the Rad_Score. Serum uric acid (UA) and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were collected. We compared EAT volume, CT values, Rad_Score, UA, and CRP between groups and developed three models: Model A (UA, CRP, EAT CT values), Model B (Rad_Score), and Model C (UA, CRP, EAT CT values, Rad_Score). Model accuracy was evaluated using ROC curves (P < 0.05).

RESULTS

The study included 77 psoriasis patients and 76 matched controls. Psoriasis patients had higher UA and CRP levels than controls (both P < 0.001). EAT CT value was higher in psoriasis (P = 0.020), with no volume difference. Eight radiomics features and Rad_Score significantly differed between groups (P < 0.001), and Rad_Score also higher in severe group than that in mild-to-moderate group (P < 0.001). Model C showed the highest AUC in both sets: training 0.947 and test 0.895, indicating superior predictive performance.

CONCLUSIONS

Combining radiomics features, EAT CT values, UA, and CRP in a predictive model accurately predicts EAT abnormalities in psoriasis, potentially improving cardiovascular comorbidity diagnosis.

CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER: Not applicable.