OBJECTIVES: Presence of Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA) in patients with Psoriasis (PsO) imposes significant disease burden and poor quality of life, demonstrating the need for multi-faceted approach to patient management. The objective of this study is to examine disease burden and prevalence of comorbidities among PsO patients with PsA, treated with biologics in European Union (EU5).

METHODS: A multi-center medical chart-review study of adult PsO patients was conducted in Q3 2017 among physicians (mainly-dermatologists) to collect data on patients who were recently treated with a biologic as part of usual care in EU5. Data on diagnosis, disease-severity, comorbidities and treatment patterns was assessed and compared for patients with PsO and PsO+PsA.

RESULTS: 1085 eligible PsO patients were included in the analysis: 79% (n=852) with PsO and 21% (n=233) with PsO+PsA. Overall, PsO patients with PsA were significantly older (mean age: 52.1 vs 46.5 yrs), female (46% vs 41.5%), and had longer disease duration (mean: 13 vs 10.1 yrs) compared to patients with PsO only (all p<0.05). Significantly higher proportion of patients were in moderate/severe disease activity compared to patients with PsO only (35.7% vs 28.5%). About 66% of the PsO+PsA patients had at least one comorbidity compared to 45.4% patients with PsO only. Among the prevalent comorbidities, higher proportion of PsO+PsA patients had obesity (19.7% vs 16.4%), heart disease (11.2% vs 5.5%, p<0.05), and dyslipidemia (33.9% vs 15.5%, p<0.05) compared to patients with PsO only. Additionally, about 56% of the PsO+PsA patients were jointly managed with a rheumatologist to better control the disease.

CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates higher disease burden and prevalence of comorbidities in PsO patients with concurrent PsA. This emphasizes the significant gap and need for co-management of the disease in PsO patients with concurrent PsA to improve outcomes.