Does psoriasis contribute to the development of heart disease?
Research type
Research Study
Full title
How does psoriasis contribute to the development of cardiovascular disease and does this inform personalised care / management in a Heart Care Centre?
IRAS ID
307561
Contact name
Helen Young
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The University of Manchester
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Psoriasis is an inflammatory skin disease that affects more than 1 million people in the UK which contributes to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) / metabolic syndrome in patients. The cause of the increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and metabolic syndrome in psoriasis is unknown although it may result from a complex interplay of contributory factors including treatment, lifestyle and shared pathological mechanisms. Patients with psoriasis also develop vascular inflammation which results in microvascular dysfunction, where patients experience symptoms suggestive of ischaemia without having flow-limiting lesions in their coronary arteries. Coronary microvascular dysfunction, which cannot be detected with standard diagnostic procedures, often goes unrecognised and untreated, leading to further cardiac compromise in time.
A mechanism to identify these “at risk” individuals offers a vital opportunity to individualise risk stratification for microvascular dysfunction and CVD, in order to provide life-saving personalised care and treatment to patients with psoriasis.
The project will involve patients attending the Chest Pain Clinic, based at the Manchester Heart Centre, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. The Manchester Heart Centre, based at Manchester Royal Infirmary is the largest provider of cardiac care in the North of England. Individuals attending the Chest Pain Clinic have a recent history of symptoms suggestive of cardiac ischaemia, which requires assessment and investigation. By recruiting volunteers in this way, the proposed studies will benefit from state-of-the-art imaging without exposing pre- or asymptomatic subjects to unnecessary (and potentially harmful) investigations. Individuals with psoriasis and age and sex-matched controls (who do not have psoriasis) will be invited to participate. The recruitment required will be iterated from pilot data so that the studies are adequately powered. We anticipate recruiting 25 individuals with psoriasis and a similar number of control subjects (50 individuals in total) in the initial phase of the project.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/NW/0003
Date of REC Opinion
11 Feb 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion