Vinod Chandran, MBBS, MD, DM, PhD
Biomechanical stress and trauma are important factors driving the development and progression of psoriatic arthritis (PsA). On the other hand, physical exercise is beneficial for patients with arthritis. However, there is concern that high-intensity interval training (HIIT) may worsen PsA. Hypothesizing that bone marrow edema changes could occur in patients with PsA after HIIT despite no reported changes in disease activity by clinical examination, Chronaiou and colleagues aimed to assess whether HIIT in PsA patients led to MRI-detectable changes in the axial skeleton. Comparing 19 PsA patients who went through 11 weeks of HIIT with 20 patients who had no change in physical exercise habits, they found no significant changes in bone marrow edema on MRI images of the spine after HIIT. Thus, the 11-week HIIT regimen may be safe in PsA.
Mental health problems are often underestimated in psoriatic disease. Lada and colleagues aimed to estimate the prevalence of depression in patients with psoriatic disease and determine whether PsA is associated with higher depression and anxiety in patients with psoriasis. Analyzing data from British Association of Dermatologists Biologic and Immunomodulators Register (BADBIR) participants (540 with psoriasis and 167 with both psoriasis and PsA) who had completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), they found that the prevalence of depression was higher in patients with PsA (32%) than in patients without PsA (22.7%) using a HADS cutoff of 8 (odds ratio 1.66; 95% CI 1.13--2.43). Pain mediated the effect of PsA on depression and anxiety.
Inhibitors of interleukin (IL)-23 are safe and efficacious in the treatment of psoriasis and PsA. However, changes in composite PsA indices have not been investigated in detail. Using pooled data from the phase 3 DISCOVER-1 (n = 381) and DISCOVER-2 (n = 739) studies, Coates and colleagues demonstrated that a significantly higher proportion of patients receiving guselkumab every 4 or 8 weeks vs placebo achieved low disease activity according to the Disease Activity Index for PsA (DAPSA) at week 8 (19.8%/17.3% vs 8.1%), DAPSA remission at week 12 (4.3%/4.3% vs 0.5%), minimal disease activity at week 16 (14.7%/16.5% vs 4.6%; all P < .001), and very low disease activity at week 24 (6.4%/4.3% vs 1.3%; P < .05), with improvements maintained until week 52. Thus, compared with placebo, treatment with guselkumab leads to early and sustained benefits for patients with PsA.
Similarly, Ostor and colleagues demonstrated in the phase 3 KEEPsAKE2 trial, which included 443 patients with PsA, that, at week 24, patients receiving risankizumab report a significantly greater improvement in the mean pain index score (-14.7 vs -6.5; P < .001), fatigue score (4.9 vs 2.6; P < .01), patient's global assessment of disease activity (-16.5 vs -7.7; P < .001), general health status (0.09 vs 0.01; P < .001), and physical functioning (5.1 vs 2.0; P < .001) compared with placebo.
In another study, treatment with bimekizumab, an inhibitor of IL-17A and IL-17F, was associated with sustained improvement in patient-reported outcomes . Mease and colleagues report that, at week 48, there was a substantial improvement in mean arthritis pain (29.9 points), fatigue (2.4 points), Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index (0.43 points), and Physical Component Summary score (9.1 points), with improvements sustained till week 152. High proportions of patients achieved the Patient Acceptable Symptom State at weeks 48 (75.2%) and 152 (65.0%). Thus, inhibitors of IL-23 and IL-17 have established efficacy in the treatment of PsA.