Papers of the Week

Evaluate relationships between changes in dermatologic assessments and quality of life (QoL) measures; quantify dermatologic symptom severity impacts on QoL in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) treated with tofacitinib. Data were from two phase III studies; patients received tofacitinib 5 or 10 mg twice daily (BID), adalimumab 40 mg every other week, or placebo advancing to tofacitinib 5 or 10 mg BID at Month 3. Repeated measures longitudinal models assessed relationships between dermatologic assessments (predictors) Itch Severity Item (ISI), Physician's Global Assessment of Psoriasis (PGA-PsO), and Patient's Global Joint and Skin Assessment-Visual Analog Scale-Psoriasis question (PGJS-VAS-PsO), and QoL measures (outcomes) Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) and Short Form-36 Health Survey Version 2 (SF-36v2). Models included one predictor and one outcome. Direct, approximately linear relationships existed between predictors and outcomes. ISI/PGA-PsO/PGJS-VAS-PsO improvements from baseline of ≥3/≥2/≥40-mm VAS corresponded with clinically meaningful DLQI improvements; improvements from baseline of ≥4/≥3/≥40-mm VAS generally corresponded with clinically meaningful improvements across component scores and all SF-36v2 domains. Substantial links exist between dermatologic symptoms and QoL in patients with PsA, potentially informing patient-centered care and research. Rheumatologists should be aware of dermatologic manifestations and QoL impacts in patients with PsA. NCT01877668; NCT01882439.