No Link Between Psoriasis and Non-Ischemic Dilated Cardiomyopathy

Despite case reports and small observational studies that have suggested a link between psoriasis and non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy, a new population-based cross-sectional study failed to find such an association. Researchers published their findings in BMC Cardiovascular Disorders. 

“Our study, being one of the first larger studies to assess this correlation, indicated no relationship between psoriasis and non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy,” wrote researchers from Jersey Shore University Medical Center. 

The study spanned more than 6 million all-cause admissions from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project National Inpatient Sample 2017 database. Among them, 0.5% involved patients with psoriasis. 

The prevalence of non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy among all-cause admissions was 0.7%, according to the study, and 0.9% among patients with psoriasis. When researchers adjusted for age, sex, race, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, alcohol abuse, cocaine abuse, arrhythmias, and obesity, they found psoriasis was not an independent predictor of non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy. 

When investigators subdivided non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy into different causes, however, they did find viral cardiomyopathy was 2.3 times more likely to affect patients with psoriasis. 

“Despite the interesting relation between psoriasis and non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy that has been reported increasingly in few case reports and studies, our current study indicated no correlation between psoriasis and non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy, except viral type, although we cannot reach a definitive conclusion from a single study…” researchers wrote.  

“Therefore, further research, especially prospective studies, are recommended to illuminate the exact correlation between all different subclasses of psoriasis and non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy.” 

Reference:
Alshami A, Alfraji N, Douedi S, et al. Psoriasis as risk factor for non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy: a population-based cross-sectional study [published correction appears in BMC Cardiovasc Disord. 2021 Apr 14;21(1):179]. BMC Cardiovasc Disord. 2021;21(1):161. Published 2021 Mar 31. doi:10.1186/s12872-021-01972-0