Psoriasis patients face higher than average death risk after a heart attack

Research points to need for more aggressive approach to secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease in psoriasis patients

2011-09-13

(Press-News.org) Heart attack patients with psoriasis are 26 per cent more likely to die from cardiovascular disease, or suffer from recurrent heart attacks or strokes, and are 18 per cent more likely to die from all causes than those without the inflammatory skin disease. That's the key finding of a Danish study published in the September issue of the Journal of Internal Medicine.

Researchers studied nearly 50,000 patients who had experienced their first heart attack between 2002 and 2006, following the 462 patients with psoriasis for an average of 19.5 months and the 48,935 controls for an average of 22 months.

They found that the patients with psoriasis had higher all-cause and specific death rates and say this indicates the need for a more aggressive approach to secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease in this group of patients.

"Psoriasis is a common skin condition that is estimated to affect 125 million people worldwide" explains lead author and cardiologist Dr Ole Ahlehoff, from Copenhagen University Hospital Gentofte.

"It is a chronic inflammatory condition where the skin cells we naturally shed all the time are replaced much quicker than normal, leading to a build up of psoriatic plaque. Heart attacks are also caused by a build-up of plaque, in the arteries leading to the heart. Our study explored the links between the two conditions, which appear to have similar inflammatory mechanisms."

Key finding of the study included:

The incidence rates per 1000 patient years for all-cause deaths were 16 per cent higher for those with psoriasis (138.3 versus 119.4) and the adjusted hazard ratio was 1.18 (18 per cent higher).

The incidence rates per 1000 patient years for deaths for a composite of cardiovascular death, recurrent heart attacks or stroke were 24 per cent higher for those with psoriasis (185.6 versus 149.7) and the adjusted hazard ratio was 1.26 (26 per cent higher).

Baseline measurements showed that patients with psoriasis had a higher rate of hospitalisation for stable and / or unstable angina (severe chest pain). They also showed that a higher percentage of patients with psoriasis were treated with statins and ACE inhibitors / angiotensin 2 receptor blockers.

Patients with psoriasis who survived their first heart attack were more likely to receive statin therapy than those without psoriasis. However the presence of other health issues, and the differences in clinical management, did not explain the worsened prognosis in patients with psoriasis.

"To our knowledge, this is the first study to assess the prognosis in patients with psoriasis following a heart attack" says Dr Ahlehoff. "Our findings show that people with psoriasis demonstrated a significantly increased risk of recurring adverse cardiovascular events and a trend for increased all-cause deaths after a heart attack.

"Furthermore, the poor prognosis faced by psoriasis patients who have had a heart attack suggests the need for a more aggressive approach to secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease in this group of patients."

### Notes to editors

Prognosis following first-time myocardial infarction in patients with psoriasis: a Danish nationwide cohort study. Ahlehoff et al. Journal of Internal Medicine. 270, pp237-244. (September 2011). DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2796.2011.02368.x

The Journal of Internal Medicine (JIM) publishes original clinical work within the broad field of general and internal medicine and its sub-specialties. It features original articles, reviews, and case reports. JIM also supports and organizes scientific meetings in the form of symposia within the scope of the journal. http://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/JOIM

Wiley-Blackwell is the international scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons, with strengths in every major academic and professional field and partnerships with many of the world's leading societies. Wiley-Blackwell publishes nearly 1,500 peer-reviewed journals and 1,500+ new books annually in print and online, as well as databases, major reference works and laboratory protocols. For more information, please visit www.wileyblackwell.com or our new online platform, Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com), one of the world's most extensive multidisciplinary collections of online resources, covering life, health, social and physical sciences, and humanities.

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Spin pumping effect proven for the first time

2011-09-13

Bochum's physicists led by Prof. Dr. Hartmut Zabel have demonstrated the spin pumping effect in magnetic layers for the first time experimentally. The behaviour of the spin pumping had previously only been predicted theoretically. The research team at the RUB has now succeeded in measuring the effect using ultrafast X-ray scattering with picosecond resolution. Through their rotation of the magnetic moments, the so-called magnetic precession, single electrons can mutually influence each other's rotation (spin) through a non-magnetic intermediate layer. This is a crucial ...

Key signal that prompts production of insulin-producing beta cells points way toward diabetes cure

2011-09-13

Jerusalem, Sept. 11, 2011 -- Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have identified the key signal that prompts production of insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas -- a breakthrough discovery that may ultimately help researchers find ways to restore or increase beta cell function in people with type 1 diabetes. The work on the multi-year project was led by Prof. Yuval Dor of the Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada of the Hebrew University, researchers from the Hadassah University Medical Center and researchers from the diabetes section of the ...

Manipulative mothers subdue show-off sons

2011-09-13

Choosing the sex of our offspring may seem totally beyond our control, but some animals have a remarkable capacity to manipulate this. The female eclectus parrot, for example, has been known to produce 20 sons in a row before switching to producing only daughters. Now, a team of evolutionary biologists has found that tight control over offspring sex ratios can have disastrous consequences for sexual selection. Led by Dr Tim Fawcett, a research fellow at the University of Bristol, the team used mathematical models and computer simulations to investigate how sex-ratio ...

'Trojan Horse' particle sneaks chemotherapy in to kill ovarian cancer cells

2011-09-13

A common chemotherapy drug has been successfully delivered to cancer cells inside tiny microparticles using a method inspired by our knowledge of how the human immune system works. The drug, delivered in this way, reduced ovarian cancer tumours in an animal model by 65 times more than using the standard method. This approach is now being developed for clinical use. The research was funded by, among others, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) Follow-on Fund - funding for 'proof of concept' at the very early stage of turning research outputs ...

Physicist detects movement of macromolecules engineered into our food

2011-09-13

This press release is available in French. Toxin proteins are genetically engineered into our food because they kill insects by perforating body cell walls, and Professor Rikard Blunck of the University of Montreal's Group for the study of membrane proteins (GÉPROM) has detected the molecular mechanism involved. In recognition of his breakthrough, he received the Traditional Paul F. Cranefield Award of the Society of General Physiologists yesterday evening. "This study is about gaining a better understanding of the basic functioning of the toxin proteins in order to judge ...

Leopoldina Symposium focuses on human rights violations in sciences and humanities

2011-09-13

The second Human Rights and Science symposium of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina was held in Strasbourg. At the event scientists and scholars, representatives of human rights organisations, and delegates from European academies of sciences and humanities came together to discuss human rights violations in academic work. The ethics of biosciences were the main focus of the public symposium. Researchers regularly face human rights issues in their work. In some countries – including those in Europe – they repeatedly come against state repression if they ...

Out of the darkness

2011-09-13

San Diego, September 12, 2011 - The Journal of Emergency Medical Services (JEMS) today announces the publication of a special 150-page four-volume digital issue featuring first-person accounts of responders who were thrust into the world spotlight the morning of September 11, 2001, when terrorists invaded their response districts – and their lives – and changed the way they, and most responders throughout the world, think, train, respond and live their lives. A.J. Heightman, Editor-in-Chief of JEMS, and Teresa McCallion, Editor of the EMS Insider newsletter – both published ...

A study analyzes how to improve the European patent

2011-09-13

This press release is available in Spanish. "From the point of view of efficiency, establishing one sole format for a European patent in which English is the language used for the procedure seems obvious, even though the diffusion of the innovation is translated into other EU languages," the researchers asserted. This would simplify the current system, they explained, in which the inventor can decide whether to present a European patent in English or to request the patent in the government office of his/her country and in its official language. In addition, it would ...

New species of ancient predatory fish discovered

2011-09-13

PHILADELPHIA (September 12, 2011) – The Academy of Natural Sciences today announced the discovery of a new species of large predatory fish that prowled ancient North American waterways during the Devonian Period, before backboned animals existed on land. Drs. Edward "Ted" Daeschler and Jason Downs of the Academy and colleagues from the University of Chicago and Harvard University describe the new denizen of the Devonian they named Laccognathus embryi in the current issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. The 375-million-year-old beast was discovered by the ...

Honduran earthquake of 2009 destroyed half of coral reefs of Belizean Barrier Reef lagoon

2011-09-13

Earth's coral reefs have not been faring well in recent decades, facing multiple threats from pollution, disease, elevated water temperatures, and overfishing. Often referred to as the "rainforests of the Sea," coral reefs support a wide variety of marine life, help protect shorelines, and contribute significantly to tourism and the fishing industry. A new study looks at a rare but catastrophic impact on reefs: the damage caused by natural disasters such as an earthquakes. In May of 2009, a powerful, magnitude-7.3 earthquake shook the western Caribbean, causing lagoonal ...