Psoriatic Arthritis Patients with Comorbidities have Worse Disease and Poor Responses Save

A population-based cohort study shows that comorbidities in psoriatic arthritis patients (PsA) were associated with higher disease activity, shorter persistence and reduced clinical response to TNF inhibitors (TNFi). 

Danish investigators assessed the impact of comorbidities on disease activity, treatment response and persistence with the first-tried TNFi in patients with psoriatic arthritis using patients from the DANBIO registry.

Among 1750 PsA patients, those with higher Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) also had higher disease activity measures at baseline and increased occurrence of depression and/or anxiety.

Those with ≥ 2 CCI or depression/anxiety had shorter persistence with TNFi treatment for compared to patients without comorbidities (p = 0.027). CCI ≥ 2 were more likely to respond with a EULAR good response (p 0.001).

Presence of comorbidities was associated with higher baseline disease activity, shorter TNFi persistence and reduced clinical response rates in a cohort of Danish patients with PsA.