Psoriatic Arthritis News

The European Commission has approved twice-daily, 5-mg doses of tofacitinib citrate, in combination with methotrexate, for adult patients with psoriatic arthritis who have had an inadequate response or who are intolerant to a prior disease-modifying antirheumatic drug, according to a manufacturer press release.

Rheumatologists are more likely to emphasize joint symptoms in patients with psoriatic disease, whereas dermatologists are more likely to perceive skin symptoms as bothersome — and both often differ with patients regarding the severity of painful skin — according to findings published in Arthritis Research and Therapy.

AMSTERDAM — Despite current treatment recommendations, fewer than half of women of childbearing age with chronic rheumatic diseases reported visiting a health care professional prior to becoming pregnant, and a majority of these women had to initiate discussions of family planning themselves, according to data presented at the EULAR Annual Congress.

The National Psoriasis Foundation’s medical board strongly recommends dietary weight loss with a hypocaloric diet for overweight and obese patients with psoriasis, and weakly suggests that overweight or obese patients with psoriatic arthritis both supplement their diet with vitamin D and lose weight.

More than 30% of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis or psoriasis either switched or discontinued their diseasemodifying antirheumatic drug treatment following a cardiovascular event, according to findings published in Arthritis Care and Research.

AMSTERDAM — The use of certolizumab pegol for rheumatic diseases or inflammatory bowel disease during pregnancy is not associated with an increased risk of major congenital malformations or fetal death compared to the general population, according to data presented at the EULAR Annual Congress.

DESTIN, Fla. — Rheumatologists should collaborate more closely with dermatologists to recognize and diagnose early cases of psoriatic arthritis, according to Arthur Kavanaugh, MD, a professor of medicine and director of the Center for Innovative Therapy at the University of California, San Diego.

A combination of physician’s global assessment and body surface area can be used as an alternative to the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index for measuring disease activity in patients with psoriatic arthritis who have been treated with certolizumab pegol, according to findings published in the Journal of Rheumatology.

Physicians need to have full knowledge of their patients’ needs, preferences and priorities, as well as their pain characteristics and history, to enact personalized management plans, which should include patient education and considerations for multidisciplinary intervention, according to recommendations published by a EULAR task force.

The FDA has approved a label extension for UCB’s TNF inhibitor Cimzia to include an indication for adults with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis who are candidates for systemic therapy or phototherapy, according to a company press release.