High Comorbidities, Risk Factors in Early PsA

Comorbidities and cardiovascular risk factors are prevalent in individuals with early, treatment naïve psoriatic arthritis (PsA), according to the results of a recent longitudinal multicenter cohort.

Comorbidities, and specifically cardiometabolic disorders, are known to be highly prevalent in individuals with PsA. The researchers aimed to identify factors that may contribute to metabolic burden in those newly diagnosed with PsA, a patient population where research on the prevalence of comorbidities is lacking.

The study included 67 individuals with early PsA and 61 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Clinical and demographic characteristics, as well as cardiovascular risk factors and comorbidities were compared between the two groups. The patients with early PsA were re-evaluated at a 1-year follow up.

While the rate of comorbidities was similar between the two groups, 82.1% of those with early PsA had cardiovascular risk factors at baseline. In comparison, 62.3% of the control group had cardiovascular risk factors at baseline (OR 1.6; 1.14-2.00).

Additionally, patients with early PsA had greater odds of having two or more comorbidities (OR 1.9; 1.2-3.0) and multiple cardiovascular risk factors (OR 2.1; 1.3-3.2). However, these outcomes were not impacted by the duration of skin psoriasis. The most prevalent comorbidity was dyslipidemia, at 64.2% for the PsA group and 39.3% for the control group (OR 1.7; 1.2-2.5).

Increased BMI and higher rates of obesity were observed in the early PsA group (OR 1.9; 1.1-3.2). While disease activity scores improved at the 1-year follow-up, the proportion of comorbidities and risk factors did not change.

“Our data imply that PsA patients have higher comorbidities and cardiovascular burden already at early stages of the disease, suggesting that these are not only a consequence of long-lasting disease and chronic system inflammation,” the authors concluded.

Reference:

Ishchenko A, Pazmino S, Neerinckx B, Lories R, de Vlam K. Comorbidities in early psoriatic arthritis: data from METAPSA cohort study. Arthritis Care Res. Published online September 5, 2023. https://acrjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/acr.25230