In patients with psoriatic disease (PsD), we determined whether cardiac troponin I (cTnI) and N-terminal pro-brain-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) were associated with carotid plaque burden and the development of cardiovascular (CV) events independent of the Framingham Risk Score (FRS).
Methods
Among 1,000 patients with PsD, carotid total plaque area (TPA) was measured in 358 participants at baseline. cTnI and NT-proBNP were measured using automated clinical assays. The association between cardiac biomarkers and carotid atherosclerosis was assessed by multivariable regression after adjusting for CV risk factors. Improvement in the prediction of CV events beyond the FRS was tested using measures of risk discrimination and reclassification.
Results
In univariate analyses, cTnI (β coefficient 0.52 [95% CI 0.3, 0.74], p<0.001) and NT-proBNP (β coefficient 0.24 [95% CI 0.1, 0.39], p<0.001) were associated with TPA. After adjusting for CV risk factors, the association remained statistically significant for cTnI (adjusted β coefficient 0.21 [95% CI 0, 0.41], p=0.047), but not NT-proBNP (p=0.21). Among 1,000 patients with PsD assessed for CV risk prediction, 64 patients had incident CV events. When comparing a base model (with the FRS alone) to expanded models (with the FRS plus cardiac biomarkers), there was no improvement in predictive performance.
Conclusion
In patients with PsD, cTnI may reflect the burden of atherosclerosis, independent of traditional CV risk factors. cTnI and NT-proBNP are associated with incident CV events independent of the FRS, however, further study of their role in CV risk stratification is warranted.
2Medical.News 