Kathryn A. Arnold, from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, and colleagues used deidentified, aggregate electronic medical record data from the University of Chicago and Northwestern University hospitals to identify 12,184 patients with a diagnosis of psoriasis.

The researchers found that ASCVD prevalence was 2.4-fold higher among patients with psoriasis in both whites and African-Americans. Absolute ASCVD rates, including rates of stroke, were highest among African-Americans with psoriasis. Compared with white patients with psoriasis, most cardiovascular risk factors were more prevalent in African-American patients with psoriasis. Psoriasis was associated with a 3.1-fold increase in ASCVD in young African-American patients (age range, 18 to 44 years) but not young white patients. Patients with psoriasis plus diabetes or hypertension had higher rates of ASCVD versus similar patients without psoriasis. However, patients with psoriasis plus hyperlipidemia or smoking did not have higher ASCVD rates than those with hyperlipidemia or smoking without psoriasis.

“Increased risk of ASCVD associated with psoriasis occurs at an earlier age in African-American patients than in white patients,” the authors write. “This finding could inform decisions to refer such patients for early cardiovascular risk assessment and reduction.”