Increased risk of migraine in patients with psoriasis: A Danish nationwide cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Psoriasis and migraine are common conditions with potential overlap of pathophysiological mechanisms. Both these diseases have been associated with increased cardiovascular risk but little is known about their interplay. OBJECTIVE: We sought to investigate the link between psoriasis, and the risk of new-onset migraine, in a nationwide cohort of the Danish population. METHODS: Data on all Danish citizens aged 18 years or older from January 1, 1997, to December 31, 2011, were linked at individual-level in nationwide registers. Incidence rates per 1000 person-years were calculated and crude and adjusted incidence rate ratios were estimated by Poisson regression models. RESULTS: The study comprised a total of 5,379,859 individuals, including 53,006 and 6831 patients with mild and severe psoriasis, respectively, and 6243 patients with psoriatic arthritis. Fully adjusted incidence rate ratios for migraine were 1.37 (95% confidence interval 1.30-1.45), 1.55 (95% confidence interval 1.29-1.86), and 1.92 (95% confidence interval 1.65-2.22) for mild psoriasis, severe psoriasis, and psoriatic arthritis, respectively. Stratification for sex revealed increased risk of migraine in both male and female patients. LIMITATIONS: We were unable to distinguish between subtypes of migraine, eg, migraine with and without aura. CONCLUSIONS: Psoriasis was associated with a disease severity-dependent increased risk of migraine independent of measured confounders. Further studies are warranted to determine the effects of antipsoriatic treatment on this association, and whether migraine modifies the psoriasis-associated risk of cardiovascular disease.

Sleep apnea, the risk of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, and potential benefits of continuous positive airway pressure therapy: A nationwide study.

OBJECTIVE: Patients with sleep apnea (SA) are at increased cardiovascular risk. However, little is known about the risk of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in patients with SA. Therefore, we studied the relation between SA patients who did and did not receive continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy with OHCA in the general population. METHODS: Using nationwide databases, we conducted a nested case-control study with OHCA-cases of presumed cardiac causes and age/sex/OHCA-date matched non-OHCA-controls from the general population. Conditional logistic regression models with adjustments for well-known OHCA risk factors were performed to generate odds ratio (OR) of OHCA comparing patients with SA receiving and not receiving CPAP therapy with individuals without SA. RESULTS: We identified 46,578 OHCA-cases and 232,890 matched non-OHCA-controls [mean: 71 years, 68.8% men]. Compared to subjects without SA, having SA without CPAP therapy was associated with increased odds of OHCA after controlling for relevant confounders (OR:1.20, 95%-Cl:1.06-1.36), while having SA with CPAP therapy was not associated with OHCA (OR:1.04, 95%-Cl:0.93-1.36). Regardless of CPAP therapy, age and sex did not significantly influence our findings. Our findings were confirmed in: (I) patients with neither ischemic heart disease nor heart failure (untreated SA, OR:1.24, 95%-CI:1.04-1.47; SA with CPAP, OR:1.08, 95%-CI:0.93-1.25); and (II) in patients without cardiovascular disease (untreated SA, OR:1.33, 95%-CI:1.07-1.65; SA with CPAP, OR:1.14, 95%-CI:0.94-1.39). CONCLUSION: SA not treated with CPAP was associated with OHCA, while no increased risk of OHCA was found for SA patients treated with CPAP.

Amiodarone treatment in atrial fibrillation and the risk of incident cancers: A nationwide observational study.

BACKGROUND: In observational studies, case reports, and animal studies, amiodarone has been associated with incident cancer. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine whether a dose-response relationship between amiodarone use and the risk of cancer could be ascertained in a large nationwide study cohort. METHODS: Using nationwide registers, we included all Danish patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) treated with amiodarone from 1996 to 2014. Exposure was defined both by categories and as a continuous variable of the cumulative defined daily doses (cDDDs) of amiodarone. The associations between amiodarone cDDD and incident cancer, as well as organ-specific types of cancer (skin, liver, lung), were estimated using multivariable Cox regression models and reported as hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) and using cubic restricted spline plots. RESULTS: We included 18,503 patients with a median follow-up time of 8.1 years (interquartile range [IQR] 4.3-12.4). Median age was 70 years (IQR 63-77). A total of 2974 individuals developed cancer during follow-up. We found no association between increasing amiodarone exposure (cDDD 181-400 and cDDD >400) and the hazard of incident cancer (HR 0.95; 95% CI 0.87-1.04; and HR 1.01; 95% CI 0.92-1.10) with reference to patients with cDDD <181. Similar results were found when investigating specific cancer types (skin, liver, and lung) as well as cDDD as a continuous variable. CONCLUSION: In a large nationwide cohort of AF patients treated with amiodarone, we found no evidence of a dose-response relationship between cumulative dose of amiodarone and incident cancer risk.

Coronary artery disease severity and long-term cardiovascular risk in patients with myocardial infarction: a Danish nationwide register-based cohort study.

Aim: Long-term prognostic impact of coronary artery disease (CAD) severity in stable post-myocardial infarction (MI) patients is not well known. We examined the impact of CAD severity and co-morbidity on the long-term (1 year and beyond) risk of cardiovascular events post-MI. Methods and results: From nationwide administrative and clinical registers, we identified 55 747 MI patients, during 2004-2010, who had not experienced subsequent MI, stroke, or death within 7 days post-discharge. The risk for primary composite endpoint (MI, stroke, or cardiovascular death) was estimated for the first 365 days after MI (index MI) and from day 366 to study completion (stable post-MI population), corresponding to a mean follow-up of 3.6 (2.2) years. Risk was assessed using cumulative incidence, multivariable adjusted logistic regression and Cox proportional-hazards models. The 1-year cumulative incidence for primary endpoint was 20.0% [95% confidence interval (CI), (19.6-20.3)]. Correspondingly, the 4-year cumulative incidence for primary endpoint was 21.0% (95% CI, 20.6-21.4) in patients without events on the first year. In multivariable models with no significant stenosis as reference, CAD severity was the most important risk factor for cardiovascular events the first 365 days [left main stenosis (LMS): odds ratio and 95% CI, 4.37, 3.69-5.17; 3-vessel disease (VD), 4.18, 3.66-4.77; 2-VD, 3.23, 2.81-3.72; 1-VD, 2.12,-1.85-2.43] and remained from day 366 to study completion [LMS: hazard ratio and 95% CI, 1.91, 1.64-2.22; 3-VD, 1.85,1.65-2.07; 2-VD, 1.55, 1.38-1.74; 1-VD, 1.30, 1.16-1.45]. Conclusion: Despite contemporary treatment at baseline, stable post-MI patients' 4-year outcome was similar to 1-year outcome after MI, and CAD severity remained a critical risk factor the first year and thereafter.