Prevalence of Psoriatic Arthritis and Joint Complaints
in Italian Psoriasis Patients
Title: Prevalence of psoriatic arthritis and
joint complaints in a large population of Italian patients hospitalised
for psoriasis.
Authors: Gisondi P, et al.
Publication: Eur J Dermatol. 2005 Jul-Aug;15(4):279-83.
The authors examined the prevalence of psoriatic arthritis and
joint complaints in the large population of Italian patients hospitalized
for psoriasis. They evaluated a total of 936 patients, according
to the European Spondyloarthropathy Study Group criteria. In addition
to skin disease severity, specific joint signs and symptoms were
evaluated.
The authors found that 71 patients (7.7%) had psoriatic arthritis,
with the following symptoms:
| Arthralgia (severe pain in the joints) |
90% |
| Stiffness |
70.4% |
| Swelling |
67.7% |
| Ankylosis (consolidation, stiffening and immobility of a
joint) |
23.9% |
| Paresthesia (burning, prickling, itching or tickling sensation
of the skin with no apparent cause) |
25.4% |
Another 12.3% of those with plaque psoriasis have joint symptoms
without having psoriatic arthritis:
| Arthralgia |
7% |
| Stiffness |
4.2% |
| Swelling |
3.7% |
| Ankylosis |
1.2% |
| Paresthesia |
12.3% |
Among 114 patients with arthralgia, 42 or 39.6% did not meet
the criteria for psoriatic arthritis.
The authors concluded that patients with plaque psoriasis often
have joint symptoms that made it distinguish patients with psoriatic
arthritis from patients with plaque psoriasis and joint complaints.
