The Contribution of Joint and Skin Improvements to the Health-Related Quality of Life of Patients with Psoriatic Arthritis

For patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) optimal improvements in their health-related quality of life (HRQol) are dependent on successfully treating both joint and skin symptoms, according to recent findings. In this study, researchers randomly allocated patients to receive ixekizumab, an interleukin-17A antagonist, or a placebo. Some of the study outcomes included Disease Activity Index for Psoriatic Arthritis (DAPSA), Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) and the European Quality of Life-Five Dimensions (EQ-5D) Visual Analogue Score (VAS). Subsequent to modelling the contribution of joint and skin improvements to HRQoL using a smoothing spline method, the results indicated the highest improvement in EQ-5D VAS correlate with the most improvements in both DAPSA and PASI together.

Read more: https://ard.bmj.com/content/early/2019/05/21/annrheumdis-2018-215003