Key clinical point: Patients with psoriasis who experienced nail pitting, musculoskeletal symptoms, or inflammation or had high body mass index (BMI) were at a higher risk of developing psoriatic arthritis (PsA).
Major finding: Patients with psoriasis who had arthralgia (pooled risk ratio [pRR] 2.15; 95% CI 1.16-3.99) or imaging-detected musculoskeletal inflammation or structural damage (pRR 3.72; 95% CI 2.12-6.51) were at a significantly higher risk for PsA. Other predictors of PsA included nail pitting (pooled hazard ratio [HR] 2.14; 95% CI 1.32-3.46) and higher BMI (adjusted HR 1.17; 95% CI 1.04-1.31).
Study details: Findings are from a meta-analysis of 16 cohort studies and 10 case-control studies including patients with skin/nail psoriasis without a diagnosis of PsA.
Disclosures: This study was partially funded by Novartis Farma, Italy. The authors declared no conflict of interests.
Source: Zabotti A et al. Rheumatol Ther. 2021 Oct 10. doi: 10.1007/s40744-021-00378-w.