Psoriatic arthritis is a chronic joint disease associated with psoriasis. The exact cause of psoriatic arthritis is unknown however it is likely that genetic, immune and environmental factors may all contribute. It is estimated that psoriatic arthritis occurs in 4 - 30% of patients with psoriasis.
Psoriatic arthritis typically occurs in people who are in their 40s and 50s. Males and females are affected equally. The skin disease (psoriasis) and the joint disease (psoriatic arthritis) often appear separately. In fact, the skin disease appears before the arthritis in nearly 80% of patients. In addition to the skin, nail involvement is very common in psoriatic arthritis.
Patients with psoriatic arthritis often have pain and stiffness in their affected joints as well as morning stiffness. Other common features resulting from soft tissue inflammation include enthesitis (inflammation at the insertion site of tendon and bone), tenosynovitis and dactylitis (sausage-like fingers) arising from swelling of a whole finger. Apart from skin involvement, psoriatic arthritis can also be associated with inflammation in body tissues such as in the eyes, heart, lungs and kidneys.
Psoriatic arthritis often treated with a number of medicines including non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and in hard to treat patients, a group of medicines known as biologics may be recommended by a specialist.
