Carotid intima-media thickness in adults with and without psoriasis - a nested case-control study from baseline data of ELSA-Brasil cohort

There is a lack of consensus about the association between psoriasis (PSO) and carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) in literature, since previous studies considered dermatologic clinic patients or general population. This study aimed to compare cIMT levels according to PSO in a sample of 10,530 civil servants form the ELSA-Brasil cohort study and analyze its association with the disease. The PSO cases and disease duration were identified by medical diagnosis self-reported at study enrollment. A paired group was identified by propensity score matching among all the participants without PSO. Mean cIMT values were considered for continuous analysis while cIMT above 75th percentile was considered for categorical analysis. Multivariate conditional regression models were used to analyze association between cIMT and PSO diagnosis, by comparing PSO cases against paired controls and overall sample without disease. A total of n = 162 PSO cases were identified (1.54%) and no difference in cIMT values was observed between participants with PSO and overall sample or control group. PSO was not associated with linear increment of cIMT (vs. overall sample: beta = 0.003, p = 0.690; vs. matched controls: beta = 0.004, p = 0.633) neither with increased chance of having cIMT above 75th percentile (vs. overall sample: OR = 1.06, p = 0.777; vs. matched controls: OR = 1.19, p = 0.432; conditional regression: OR = 1.31, p = 0.254). There was no relationship between disease duration and cIMT (beta = 0.000, p = 0.627). Although no significant relationship between mild cases of psoriasis and cIMT was observed among a wide cohort of civil servants, longitudinal investigation about cIMT progression and severity of disease are still needed.

Automated summary

This study aimed to analyze the association between psoriasis (PSO) and carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) in a cohort of 10,530 civil servants from the ELSA-Brasil study. The results showed no significant association between PSO and cIMT, suggesting the need for further investigation.