Sobchak C, et al. - An appraisal was pursued of the recent evidence about the epidemiology and underlying mechanisms of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in psoriatic patients and approaches to improve the management of these comorbidities. The need for controlling disease activity, as potential target possibly causing reduced cardiovascular risk, was underscored in this research. Moreover, it brought the significance of optimization of cardiovascular risk stratification and management of cardiovascular risk factors to the limelight, in patients with psoriatic disease (PsD).

• CVD risk was disclosed to be independent of traditional cardiovascular risk factors and correlated with the systemic inflammatory nature of PsD.
• The use of surrogate markers, such as imaging of subclinical atherosclerosis, aided in determining the patients at high cardiovascular risk prior to the occurrence of clinical events.
• These could be clinically beneficial as clinical cardiovascular risk algorithms, such as the Framingham Risk Score.
• They underestimated the actual cardiovascular risk in patients with PsD.
• The difficulties in managing CVD in psoriatic patients consisted of the underdiagnosis and undertreatment of traditional cardiovascular risk factors in rheumatology, dermatology and primary care setting.
• Effective measures used to control PsD, such as tumour necrosis factor inhibitors and methotrexate, exhibited a relationship with reduced cardiovascular risk in psoriatic patients.