Key clinical point: In patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA), joint swelling was more closely related to and better predicted ultrasound-defined inflammation and active synovitis at 1 year than joint tenderness.
Major finding: Swollen joint count correlated better with greyscale and power Doppler (PD) joint scores (correlation coefficient [r] 0.37 and 0.47, respectively) than tender joint count (PD-joint score; r 0.33). Ultrasound verified active synovitis at 12-month follow-up was better predicted by swelling (odds ratio [OR] 6.33; 95% CI 3.70-10.83) vs. tenderness (OR 3.58; 95% CI 2.29-5.58) at baseline.
Study details: Findings are from a prospective study including 83 patients with PsA who underwent clinical and ultrasound examinations at 2 visits scheduled 12 months apart.
Disclosures: This work was funded by Pfizer. The authors declared no conflict of interests.
Source: Bosch P et al. Rheumatology. 2021;keab764 (Oct 21). Doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/keab764.