Why carry out this study?

About 30% of patients with psoriasis progress to psoriatic arthritis, an inflammatory disease that causes inflammation and swelling of the joints in addition to skin symptoms.

However, few studies have evaluated the clinical burden of concomitant joint disease in patients with psoriasis.

The objective of this study was to assess comorbidity rates in patients with psoriatic arthritis compared with psoriasis alone.

What was learned from the study?

These results show that patients with psoriatic arthritis have higher rates of other diseases beyond the skin and joints, such as metabolic syndrome and depression, than those with psoriasis alone.

These findings highlight the need for future studies to determine how physicians can improve monitoring of psoriasis to reduce the risk of psoriatic arthritis and the associated clinical burden.