Patients with PsA have slightly worse SF-36 PCS scores vs patients with RA

MADRID — Patients with rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis appear to have similar mental health-related quality of life as assessed by the SF-36 mental component summary, while patients with psoriatic arthritis have slightly worse physical health-related quality of life as indicated by the SF-36 physical component summary, according to a study presented at the EULAR Annual Congress.

“Only a few studies have compared health-related quality of life using the medical outcomes short form-36 between rheumatoid arthritis [RA] and psoriatic arthritis [PsA] patients,” presenter Brigitte Michelsen, MD, said in a press conference. “Health-related quality of life has been found to be impaired in RA as well in PsA patients.”

The study, which is part of the ongoing prospective, observational, multicenter Norwegian Disease Modifying Antirheumatic Drug (NOR-DMARD) study, evaluated 2,735 patients with RA and 1,236 patients with PsA who initiated first-time tumor necrosis factor inhibitors or DMARD-naïve patients who began methotrexate between 2000 and 2012. The mean age was 55±13.5 years in patients with RA and 48.3 ±12.4 years for patients with PsA. The median years since diagnosis was 0.7 years in patients with RA and 1.3 years in patients with PsA. A total of 69.7% of patients in the RA group were women vs. 48.4% of patients in the PsA group. About a third of patients in both groups were current smokers.

The researchers compared continuous variables using independent t-test. The researchers compared SF-36 physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) between the patient groups by performing prespecified ANCOVA analyses adjusted for age, gender and years since diagnosis. These comparisons were made at baseline, after 3-months follow-up and after 6-months follow-up.

The researchers found the RA group had a higher mean DAS28 vs. PsA group at baseline (4.9±1.4 vs. 4.2±1.3), as well as at 3-months (3.6±1.5 vs. 3.1±1.4) and 6-months follow-up (3.3 ±1.4 vs. 3±1.3). In unadjusted analysis, the mean SF-36 PCS and SF-36 MCS were comparable between RA vs. PsA patient groups at all time points.

“We have seen that physical, and to a lesser extent mental health-related quality of life is impaired in PsA, as well as RA patients,” Michelsen said. “Health-related quality of life should be taken into consideration in a targeted approach to RA, as well as PsA patients.” – by Jennifer Byrne

Reference:

Michelsen B, et al. Abstract #OP0109. Presented at: EULAR Annual Congress; June 14-17, 2017; Madrid.

Disclosure: Michelsen reports no relevant disclosures.