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PASDAS Provides Vital Measurements in PsA Care
Using the Psoriatic Arthritis Disease Activity Score (PASDAS), researchers revealed significant residual disease activity in patients previously determined as very low, or low, disease activity—highlighting the relevance of using PASDAS in clinical care among patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA).
“We aimed to investigate the disease activity and overall disease burden of (subgroups of) patients with PsA in an already tightly monitored cohort,” the authors reported.
The cross-sectional study analyzed data from 855 patients with PsA, using Disease Activity Score 28 (DAS28) as an anchor. Data were then categorized in patient subgroups by clinical outcomes using very low disease activity (VLDA); low disease activity (LDA); moderate disease activity (MDA); and high disease activity (HDA) as markers.
“Based on the PASDAS, 53.1% of patients were in VLDA/LDA; 29.5% of patients had ≥1 swollen joint; 20.6% had ≥1 enthesitis index point; and 3% had active dactylitis. Based on DAS28, 77.5% of the patients were in VLDA/LDA. Patients reaching both DAS28 VLDA/LDA status and PASDAS VLDA/LDA status were compared with patients reaching only DAS28 VLDA/LDA status,” the authors wrote.
“For these latter patients, significantly worse scores on separate parameters were found in measures used for PASDAS/DAS28 calculation (e.g., swollen and tender joint count and patient’s visual analogue scale global disease activity) as well as other disease measures (e.g., function and inflammatory back pain). This result remained, even when the stricter VLDA cut-off was used for the DAS28,” the authors concluded.
—Angelique Platas
Reference
Mulder M, van Hal TW, van den Hoogen F, de Jong E, Vriezekolk JE, Wenink MH. Measuring disease activity in psoriatic arthritis: PASDAS implementation in a tightly monitored cohort reveals residual disease burden. Rheumatology. 2021; 60(7): 3165-3175.
