Detection of early cardiac involvement in psoriasis through speckle-tracking echocardiography: a meta-analysis

Abstract Background Chronic inflammatory processes in psoriasis contribute to increased cardiovascular morbidity through persistent oxidative stress mechanisms. Advanced cardiac imaging using two-dimensional speckle-tracking analysis provides sensitive quantification of myocardial deformation patterns. These strain measurements enable identification of subtle ventricular impairment before overt functional decline becomes apparent. Current evidence regarding preclinical cardiac involvement in psoriatic populations remains contradictory across existing studies. Methods We performed a comprehensive search of medical databases to identify comparative studies evaluating myocardial strain parameters (global longitudinal and circumferential strain) in psoriatic patients versus healthy individuals. Data synthesis was performed using random-effects meta-analysis with inverse-variance weighting, calculating standardized effect sizes with corresponding 95% confidence intervals. All statistical computations were conducted using specialized meta-analysis software (Review Manager 5.4.1). Results Our analysis incorporated eleven clinical studies comprising 501 psoriatic patients and 378 matched controls. The pooled results demonstrated significantly impaired myocardial deformation in psoriasis patients, with notable reductions in both longitudinal (SMD: -1.04; 95% CI: -1.45 to -0.62; p