Hidradenitis suppurativa and risk of adverse cardiovascular events, death

Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease marked by painful abscesses that develop in areas where there are large numbers of sweat glands. These ooze pus and have an unpleasant smell. The disease has been associated with cardiovascular risk factors, such as smoking and obesity, but the risk of cardiovascular disease in patients with HS is unknown.

Alexander Egeberg, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark and coauthors investigated cardiovascular risk in patients with HS. Their study included 5,964 Danish patients with a hospital-based diagnosis of HS and 29,404 individuals from the general population without HS. The study analysis also compared patients with HS to 13,093 patients with severe psoriasis.

The authors suggest HS was associated with increased risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes and death from all causes; the risk of cardiovascular-associated death also was higher in patients with HS compared to the risk for patients with severe psoriasis. The study suggests HS may be a risk factor for adverse cardiovascular outcomes.

"The results call for greater awareness of this association and for studies of its clinical consequences," the study concludes.