Subclinical Myocardial Dysfunction Assessment Using Speckle Tracking Echocardiography in Patients With Psoriasis: A Pilot Meta-Analysis

Introduction

Psoriasis is a systemic inflammatory disease associated with elevated cardiovascular risk due to inflammatory and oxidative stress. Two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography (2D-STE) can detect both regional and global myocardial strain. Impairment of ventricular strain can assist in the early detection of myocardial dysfunction. Subclinical myocardial dysfunction in psoriasis has not yet been elucidated with inconsistent results.

Methods

A systematic literature search of various databases was conducted to identify studies comparing global longitudinal strain (GLS) and global circumferential strain (GCS) between patients with psoriasis and healthy controls. Standardized mean differences (SMD) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were pooled using the inverse-variance random-effects model in Review Manager Software Version 5.4.1.

Results

Eleven studies with 879 participants (501 patients with psoriasis and 378 healthy controls) were included. Psoriasis was associated with a statistically significant reduction in GLS [SMD: –1.04; 95% CI: –1.45, –0.62; p < 0.00001] and GCS [SMD: –0.66; 95% CI: –1.27, –0.05; p = 0.03] compared to healthy controls.

Conclusion

This study demonstrated that patients with psoriasis are at an elevated risk of subclinical myocardial dysfunction, as shown by the reduced GLS and GCS. Early assessment of subclinical impairment in psoriasis will allow targeted intervention and may mitigate future adverse cardiovascular events. Prospective studies with larger sample sizes are warranted to validate these results.