Background:
Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic systemic inflammatory disease characterised by a range of musculoskeletal manifestations including arthritis, enthesitis, dactylitis, spondylitis, skin, and nail disease. It affects 1% of the population and is seen in up to 40% of patients with psoriasis1. Given that it is such a heterogeneous disease, clinical assessment can be difficult. Currently, in Australia, access to biologic therapy requires a tender and swollen joint count and a measure of inflammation in the blood (ESR or CRP). This neglects the high burden of disease of enthesitis, dactylitis, psoriasis, nail disease and axial involvement. Furthermore, the joint count alone may not reflect the patient's experience of the disease.
Aims:
Methods:
The study population originated from a dedicated psoriatic arthritis clinic at Liverpool Hospital. At each visit, patients underwent a complete clinical assessment. In addition, patient-reported outcome measures were collected. Clinical measures included assessment of (a) joints (76 swollen and 78 tender joints), (b) skin (PASI), (c) nail disease (mNAPSI), (d) dactylitis, (e) enthesitis indices, and (f) axial disease (BASMI). Patient-reported outcome measures consisted of DLQI, SF-36, HAQ and PsAQoL, and MDHAQ. Blood samples for inflammatory markers (ESR/CRP) were taken at each visit.
Results:
To be presented