Patients with psoriasis have a higher prevalence of parental cardiovascular disease.

BACKGROUND

Parental history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is an independent risk factor for offspring CVD. Patients with chronic plaque psoriasis have an intermediate risk of developing CVD.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the prevalence of parental history of CVD in patients with psoriasis.

METHOD: A cross-sectional study on 236 adult patients with chronic plaque psoriasis and 246 controls was performed. Parental history of myocardial infarction and/or stroke was investigated by using a structured questionnaire. The accuracy of the self-reported information was confirmed by the hospital registry.

RESULTS

A positive parental history of maternal myocardial infarction was observed in 28/236 cases compared to 16/246 controls (11.8 vs. 6.5%; p = 0.04). A positive parental history of premature maternal myocardial infarction (i.e. <65 years) was observed in 16/236 cases compared to 3/246 controls (6.8 vs. 1.2%; p = 0.01). Moreover, a positive parental history of paternal stroke was observed in 25/236 cases compared to 14/246 controls (10.5 vs. 5.6%; p = 0.04). A positive parental history of psoriasis was higher in cases than in controls (35 vs. 2%; p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Parental history of CVD could also be investigated in patients with psoriasis for a more comprehensive estimation of their cardiovascular risk.