According to a story from pm360online.com, some recent studies from Scandinavia are serving to highlight the lack of advances in treatment for psoriatic arthritis. While other types of arthritis have seen new treatment options enter the market and significant improvements in outcomes, psoriatic arthritis patients currently are not improving at comparable rates.
Psoriatic arthritis is found in about 30 percent of people with psoriasis, a skin condition characterized by red, scaly patches of skin. It is an inflammatory arthritis that can cause a host of unpleasant symptoms, such as the swelling of fingers and toes, changes to finger and toe nails (thickening, pitting, and detachment from the nail bed), and inflammation and stiffening of the joints of the hands and wrists. Pain may also occur in the lower back or around the ankles and feet. Patients with psoriatic arthritis often suffer from severe fatigue that does not subside even after sufficient sleep. Early treatment is essential to prevent damage to the joints. The disease is treated with antiinflammatory drugs, but other types of treatments should be used in order to prevent damage to the joints. To learn more about psoriatic arthritis, click here.
An assessment of 141 disease patients indicated that only 22.9 percent of them actually had the condition under control. By comparison, remission rates for rheumatoid arthritis stands at 50 or 60 percent. More worryingly, there were 42 patients that were not receiving disease modifying, antirheumatic treatment, which is essential for preventing joint damage. The study results were of major concern to researchers, and the evidence suggests the psoriatic arthritis is not being treated as aggressively as it should be. In reality, there are effective treatments available for the condition, but it’s almost as if doctors are not aware that stronger regimens are necessary. Even psoriasis, the condition in which psoriatic arthritis is found, has seen better improvements.
A second study highlighted the severity of costs imparted on psoriatic arthritis patients, such as major increases in disability problems, complications, and societal burdens. However, more doctors are beginning to adapt treat-to-target approaches that are now common for treating rheumatoid arthritis; in addition, the condition has recently been the subject of record-breaking numbers of various publications, and three new treatments were recently approved for it. Hopefully, these indicators will represent tangible outcome improvements.
