Introduction: The objective of this study is to identify the potential risk factors for progression from subclinical to clinical psoriatic arthritis (PsA).
Methods: A retrospective, longitudinal, case-control study was conducted at a single hospital, including 25 patients with clinically confirmed PsA in the case group and 137 controls without confirmed PsA. All patients in both groups had a medical history of subclinical PsA. Various baseline covariates were collected from all patients when they had a status of subclinical PsA. Univariate, multivariate, stratified, and interaction analyses were employed to identify potential risk factors of transiting to clinical PsA from subclinical PsA.
Results: In multivariate logistic regression analysis, older age (OR 10.15, 95% CI 2.79-36.91, p = 0.00), alcohol drinking (OR 3.43, 95% CI 1.17-10.12, p = 0.03), elevated high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) (OR 1.05, 95% CI 1.01-1.09, p = 0.03) were identified as risk factors for transition from subclinical to clinical PsA. Stratified and logistic regression analyses suggest a significant interaction between age and fatty liver. For patients aged less than 45 years old, the association between fatty liver and clinical PsA was statistically significant.
Conclusions: Older age, alcohol drinking, elevated hs-CRP, and the presence of fatty liver at less than 45 years old appear to increase the risk of transition from subclinical to clinical PsA. These findings call for a need to manage these risk factors.
Keywords: Disease progression; Psoriatic arthritis; Risk factors.