Psoriasis, electrocardiographic characteristics, and incidence of atrial fibrillation

Psoriasis patients have an increased incidence of cardiovascular disease. Atrial fibrillation is the most common cardiac arrhythmia and is associated with increased morbidity and risk of stroke. In this study, we assessed the association between psoriasis, electrocardiographic characteristics, and incident atrial fibrillation. Two cohorts were studied to address this question. First, the electrocardiograms of 169 subjects with psoriasis and coronary heart disease were reviewed and matched to patients without psoriasis. The Framingham risk score for atrial fibrillation was calculated to predict incident atrial fibrillation. Second, a larger cohort of 2,078 patients with psoriasis was matched to 6,234 patients without psoriasis. In the first group, psoriasis patients had no significantly different electrocardiographic characteristics, but a trend towards a decreased predicted incidence of atrial fibrillation using the Framingham risk score (12.8 vs. 14.6 % over a 10-year period, P = 0.06), suggesting that patients with psoriasis do not have a higher prevalence of risk factors for atrial fibrillation based on established risk scores. In the second group, the 5-year incidence of atrial fibrillation among patients with psoriasis was 2.5, vs. 3.3 % for matched controls (P = 0.4). The rates of atrial fibrillation per 1,000 person-years ranged from 4.8 events/1,000 person-years for mild psoriasis to 5.4 for patients with moderate/severe psoriasis. On multivariable analysis, there remained no association between mild psoriasis (adjusted HR 1.32, 95 % CI 0.91-1.89) or moderate-to-severe psoriasis (adjusted HR 1.27, 95 % CI 0.54-3.03) and incident atrial fibrillation.