Key clinical point: Irrespective of human leukocyte antigen-B27 (HLA-B27) status, patients with axial psoriatic arthritis (PsA) experienced mild improvement in disease outcomes after 6 months of initiating targeted synthetic (ts) disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARD) or biologic DMARDs (bDMARD ).
Major finding: After 6 months, Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) score remained >4, indicating moderate-to-severe disease activity irrespective of HLA-B27 status, with a mean reduction in BASDAI score of 0.80 and 0.84 (both not clinically meaningful) in the HLA-B27-positive and HLA-B27-negative groups, respectively.
Study details: This prospective, observational study included 135 patients with moderate-to-severe axial PsA who initiated bDMARDs or tsDMARDs and were followed up for 6 months , of which 39 and 96 patients had HLA-B27-positive and HLA-B27-negative status, respectively.
Disclosures: This study was sponsored by CorEvitas, LLC. The authors declared receiving research support, consulting fees, or speaker bureau support from several sources. Two authors declared being employees and shareholders of Johnson and Johnson; three authors declared being present or former employees of CorEvitas, LLC.
Source: Mease PJ et al. treatment responses in patients with psoriatic arthritis axial disease according to human leukocyte antigen-B27 Status: An analysis from the CorEvitas Psoriatic Arthritis/Spondyloarthritis registry. ACR Open Rheumatol. 2022 (Feb 26). Doi: 10.1002/acr2.11416