Assessment of subclinical atherosclerosis in hidradenitis suppurativa

BACKGROUND: Patients with hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) have an increased prevalence of traditional cardiovascular risk factors. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to investigate the association between subclinical atherosclerosis, detected by carotid ultrasound, and HS. METHODS: A prospective observation and analytical study assessing subclinical atherosclerosis using carotid ultrasound in patients with HS. RESULTS: A total of 62 HS patients and 62 matched controls were studied. Diabetes mellitus (22.6% vs. 6.5%, P = 0.020), hypertension (41.9% vs. 12.9%, P < 0.001) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) (38.7% vs. 8.1%, P < 0.001) were more common in HS patients. Elevated neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (59.7% vs. 40.3%, P = 0.031), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (61.1 vs. 29.0%, P < 0.001) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (46.8% vs. 9.7%, P < 0.001) were more frequent in patients with HS. Subclinical atherosclerosis was present in 30.6% of HS patients and in 16.1% of the controls subjects (P = 0.06). After a logistic regression analysis, elevated age was associated with the presence of subclinical atherosclerosis (P < 0.001), and HS showed a tendency towards this association [adjusted OR (95% CI) 3.8 (0.9-16.0), P = 0.066]. This association was statistically significant between patients 40 years and older [OR (95% CI) 4.9 (1.8-13.1)]. CONCLUSIONS: Our clinical results indicate that patients with HS have a higher prevalence of subclinical atherosclerosis than expected when correcting for traditional risk factors. The findings support the conclusions of previous epidemiological studies.