Incidence of Psoriatic Arthritis in a Primary Care Psoriasis Population in the United Kingdom

Objective: To determine the annual incidence of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) in a United Kingdom primary care population with preexisting psoriasis (PsO) followed prospectively over 2 years after excluding baseline prevalence of existing disease.

Methods: Total Burden of Psoriasis (TUDOR; ISRCTN registry: ISRCTN38877516) was a multicenter, prospective, 2-arm parallel-group cluster randomized controlled trial of the early identification of PsA by annual rheumatological assessment (termed "Enhanced Surveillance") vs standard care in people with PsO identified in primary care. Incidence of PsA is reported at 12 months and 24 months using patients from the Enhanced Surveillance arm, which allows for the exclusion of patients with prevalent PsA at baseline.

Results: Fourteen of 511 participants attending a 12-month screen developed PsA over that interval, giving an incidence of 2.74/100 patient-years (PYs; 95% CI 1.32-4.16). Another 7/444 participants attending the 24-month visit developed PsA, giving an incidence of 1.58/100 PYs (95% CI 0.42-2.74). The combined incidence over 2 years was 2.20/100 PYs (95% CI 1.27-3.13).

Conclusion: The estimated annual incidence of PsA over a 2-year period was 2.20/100 PYs, which is in keeping with studies including clinical assessment rather than relying on health records alone. Extended follow-up of the TUDOR cohort with accrual of larger numbers of incident cases will allow risk factors for PsA to be explored in more depth.