Category Archives: Risks

psoriatic psa treatment guideline

PsA Research Briefs: Comorbidities

Keep up-to-date on the latest psoriatic arthritis (PsA) research with our brief research summaries.

PsA May Put Liver at Risk

People with PsA may have an increased risk of liver disease, according to a new study that followed more than a million people for an average of 6 years. People with psoriasis were 37% more likely to develop liver disease than those without inflammatory diseases, the study found. Those with PsA were 38% more likely to have liver disorders. Taking methotrexate further increased their risk.

SOURCE: Journal of Investigative Dermatology, April 2018

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Psoriatic Arthritis Cardiovascular Disease

Heart Disease Risk May be Nearly Doubled in People with Psoriatic Arthritis

Doctors have long known that heart disease is more common in people who have inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriasis. But they weren’t sure if this applied to psoriatic arthritis (PsA), which is more complex and not nearly as well studied. Then, in 2016, Canadian researchers published a meta-analysis of studies evaluating cardiovascular disease risk and PsA in the journal Arthritis Care & Research. The results suggested that people with PsA were 43 percent more likely to have or develop heart disease compared with the general population. PsA patients also had a 22 percent increased risk of cerebrovascular disease – conditions such as stroke that affect blood flow to the brain.
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psoriasis fracture risk

Psoriatic Arthritis, Psoriasis May Raise Your Fracture Risk

People with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and those with severe psoriasis are at higher risk than the general population for a type of fracture typically associated with osteoporosis, according to a new study published online in January 2017 in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. In fact, the increase in risk for these two groups is comparable or even higher than that of people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a group known to have higher than average risks of osteoporosis and fracture related to low bone mineral density.
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Statins Arthritis Inflammation

Statins May Cut Death Risk in Those with Psoriatic Arthritis & Ankylosing Spondylitis

People with ankylosing spondylitis or psoriatic arthritis who take cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins seem to live longer than people who don’t take them, according to researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. They presented their findings recently at the American College of Rheumatology’s 2016 Annual Meeting.

In a previous study, Massachusetts General researchers found that people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who took statins lived longer, and they wanted to know if the drugs would offer a similar benefit to patients with other types of inflammatory arthritis, such as ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA). AS mainly affects the spine, especially the sacroiliac joint where the spine meets the pelvis. PsA affects joints as well as skin.
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Psoriatic Arthritis Heart Disease

Psoriatic Arthritis May Raise Cardiovascular Disease Risk

People with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) compared with people who don’t have PsA, according to a meta-analysis published in the April issue of Arthritis Care and Research. Lead investigator Lihi Eder, MD, PhD, says the study is among the first to quantify the relationship between heart disease and psoriatic arthritis – a form of inflammatory arthritis that usually develops in people who have the skin disease psoriasis.
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psoriatic arthritis facts vs myth

5 Psoriatic Arthritis Myths Debunked

Between appointments with your healthcare provider and online research, you feel confident in your knowledge of psoriatic arthritis (PsA). You might be surprised to learn that some popular beliefs about the disease, which affects up to 30% of the 7.5 million Americans living with psoriasis, are not true at all.

“There is a lack of understanding about the nature of this disease,” explains Eric L. Matteson MD, professor of medicine in the division of rheumatology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.

Learn the truth behind five popular psoriatic arthritis myths.

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Smoking Increases Psoriatic Arthritis

Smoking Increases the Risk of Psoriatic Arthritis

Smoking can have harmful effects on your skin and joints, increasing the risk and severity of the scaling skin disease psoriasis, and the arthritis that often accompanies it – psoriatic arthritis (PsA). Several studies have found an association between smoking and psoriatic arthritis, but further research is needed to gain a better understanding of cause and effect.

In a 2014 study published in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, researchers in Denmark investigated the smoking-psoriatic arthritis connection in 1,388 psoriatic arthritis patients from a nationwide registry. They found that compared with non-smoking psoriatic arthritis patients, smoking PsA patients had worse self-reported disease. Smokers also had shorter treatment adherence (meaning they didn’t follow their prescribed treatment plan for as long)  and a poorer response to treatment.

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How Common is Psoriatic Arthritis in People with Psoriasis?

The prevalence of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) among psoriasis patients is higher than previously thought, according to several international studies published between 2013 and 2015. In North America and Europe, between 18 and 42 percent of people with psoriasis, an inflammatory skin disease, also have psoriatic arthritis. In the United States, psoriasis affects about 2.2 percent of the population (7.5 million people), making it the most prevalent autoimmune disease in the US. In addition to skin problems associated with psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis affects the joints and other parts of the body.

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Obesity Increases Psoriatic Arthritis

Obesity Can Increase the Risk of Psoriatic Arthritis

From osteoarthritis to heart disease to diabetes, obesity is implicated in a host of diseases. A study now adds one more condition to the list: psoriatic arthritis, or PsA.

Psoriatic arthritis, an autoimmune condition, is a form of inflammatory arthritis that affects an estimated 6 to 10 percent of people with of the skin condition psoriasis and up to 40 percent of those with extensive psoriasis. It can also affect people who do not have the skin disease.

It’s been known that being overweight or obese increases a person’s chances of developing psoriasis. But a study in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, researchers report a link between body mass index, or BMI, and psoriatic arthritis, too.

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