Easily administered screening tool may help identify axial psoriatic arthritis

In a recent investigation, researchers said, “Dermatologist-centred screening (DCS) questionnaire reduces delay in diagnosis and the time to appropriate therapy.” This Italian study published in Rheumatology identified DCS as a rapid and easy-to-administer tool that could help in identifying psoriatic patients having early axial psoriatic arthritis.

Dermatologists administered DCS questionnaires to patients aged 18+ with psoriasis diagnosed by a dermatologist to identify those eligible for rheumatological evaluation. They collected data (clinical, laboratory, imaging and genetic) from all referred patients.

Key findings from the study are:

• Out of 365 patients screened, 265 patients met the inclusion criteria.
• One hundred twenty-four patients were eligible for rheumatological referral.
• Diagnosis of axPsA, with/without peripheral PsA (pPsA), was made in 36 patients.
• Twenty-one patients had pPsA without axial involvement.
• One hundred seventy-four patients had Back pain at screening.
• A total of 158 patients, constituting 60%, reported back pain duration longer than three months, and 140, constituting 53%, reported back pain onset before 45 years of age.
• All axPsA patients had active inflammatory and/or structural post-inflammatory changes in the sacroiliac joints and/or spine.

Psoriatic arthritis patients had a longer duration of back pain and higher CRP levels than patients with Pso without PsA.

Researchers determined a DCS tool valuable in identifying and assessing patients with axPsA in a real-life cohort of psoriasis patients in a dermatology clinic. It helped identify a significant number of patients with undiagnosed pPsA.

AbbVie funded the study for medical writing.

Reference:

Michele Maria Luchetti Gentiloni et al. The ATTRACT study: screening for the early identification of axial psoriatic arthritis in a cohort of Italian psoriatic patients, Rheumatology, 2023; kead566, https://doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/kead566