Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of comorbidities and cardiovascular (CV) risk factors (RFs) in treatment-naive patients with early psoriatic arthritis (ePsA) and to identify factors that contribute to metabolic burden in ePsA.
Methods: This was an observational longitudinal multicenter cohort study. Clinical and demographic characteristics, CV RFs, and comorbidities were compared in patients newly diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and sex- and age-matched controls. In patients with PsA, comorbidities were reevaluated after one year's follow-up because the disease activity changed.
Results: Sixty-seven patients with ePsA and 61 healthy volunteers were included. The rate of comorbidities was similar in patients with ePsA and in healthy controls; 82.1% of patients with ePsA had CV RFs at baseline as compared with 62.3% of healthy volunteers (odds ratio [OR] 1.6, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.14-2.0). Patients with ePsA had higher odds of having multiple (two or more) comorbidities (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.2-3.0) and multiple CV RFs (OR 2.1, 95% CI 1.3-3.2) than the controls. Comorbidities or CV RFs in patients with ePsA were not influenced by duration of skin psoriasis. Dyslipidemia was the most prevalent comorbidity in the PsA cohort (64.2% vs 39.3% in controls; OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.2-2.5). Patients with ePsA had, on average, above normal body mass index (mean ± SD 28.82 ± 4.5) and a higher rate of obesity (40.3% vs 18.3% in controls; OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.1-3.2). After 1 year, although disease activity scores improved, the proportion of patients with comorbidities and CV RFs did not increase or drop.
Conclusion: Our data imply that patients with PsA already have higher comorbidities and CV burden at early stages of the disease, suggesting that these are not only a consequence of long-lasting disease and chronic systemic inflammation.
© 2023 American College of Rheumatology.