If left untreated, psoriatic arthritis (PsA) can cause permanent joint damage, which may be disabling. In addition to preventing irreversible joint damage, treating your PsA may also help reduce inflammation in your body that could lead to other diseases.
Symptoms of psoriatic arthritis
The severity of the condition can vary considerably from person to person. Some people may have severe problems affecting many joints, whereas others may only notice mild symptoms in 1 or 2 joints.
Psoriatic arthritis flares can pop up at any time and disrupt your day. But certain lifestyle strategies can help minimize the pain and swelling, so you can live well.
PsA Is an Autoimmune Disease
The inflammation can affect the entire body and may lead to permanent joint and tissue damage if it is not treated early and aggressively.
Even so, the pain and discomfort associated with psoriatic arthritis can be significant. A study published in 2015 in the journal PLoS One found that the overall pain, joint pain, and fatigue reported by psoriatic arthritis patients was significantly greater than that reported by people with rheumatoid arthritis.
“Psoriatic arthritis is unpredictable,” says Zhanna Mikulik, MD, a rheumatologist and immunologist at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Some people will have mild disease for many years and go into remission, some will have severe disease early on and require aggressive treatment, she explains.
In the general population, PsA is a relatively rare disease seen in 0.10–0.25 percent of adults. It is most common in people 30–60 years old. Figure 1: Worldwide prevalence of psoriatic arthritis among patients with psoriasis.
Joint pain, stiffness and swelling are the main signs and symptoms of psoriatic arthritis. They can affect any part of the body, including your fingertips and spine, and can range from relatively mild to severe.
Arthritis Mutilans
This is the most severe and rarest type of psoriatic arthritis. Fewer than 1 in 20 people have this pattern. It damages the small joints and tissues in the ends of your hands and feet.
While there is no cure for psoriatic arthritis , it is possible to achieve remission with the help of medication. Treatments include disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and biologics.
When you have psoriatic arthritis, you want to stay away from foods that can make the inflammation in your body worse. These include: Alcohol: It makes your liver work harder and disrupts the way your organs work together. Sugar: It sends out things called cytokines that create inflammation in your body.
Regular exercise can help you to prevent or manage the discomfort of psoriatic arthritis. NYU Langone doctors often recommend range-of-motion exercises, which preserve and restore joint motion. They also encourage strength training, which builds muscle and tendon strength to help stabilize and support joints.
The disease often appears between ages 30 and 50. For many people, it starts about 10 years after psoriasis develops, but some develop PsA first or without ever developing or noticing psoriasis.
PsA affects everyone differently. Symptoms may be mild or severe, affect just a few or many joints, and symptoms can come and go. A sudden onset of symptoms is called a flare. Talk to your primary care doctor and get a referral to a rheumatologist or dermatologist, who specialize in psoriasis and PsA.
PsA can be different for everyone. Some may find that the condition starts slowly, with mild symptoms. In others, it may develop quickly and cause severe symptoms. In mild PsA, symptoms tend to come and go.
You can soothe your psoriatic arthritis symptoms -- or even stop them before they start -- with a combo of exercise, medicines, and other treatments. Your doctor can tell you exactly what you need to do. Chances are, these tactics will be high on their list, right next to taking your medicines.
PsA is not always hereditary, but some people may inherit a predisposition to developing it. There is some overlap in the genetic predisposition to psoriasis, PsA, and a type of arthritis called ankylosing spondylitis.
Some people may have a very mild form of PsA and get it under control relatively quickly, whereas others may have very severe disease and have to try several medications and combinations of medications to find relief.
Maintaining a healthy weight plays a vital role in lowering psoriatic arthritis risk, says Modi. Not only can weight loss decrease inflammation in your body if you're overweight or obese but it can also relieve stress on your joints and tendons, Modi adds.
Psoriatic Arthritis Blood Test: Anti-Cyclic Citrullinated Peptide Test. Blood tests that look for the presence of anti-cylic citrullinated peptide antibodies (anti-CCPs), which are inflammatory, are commonly used to diagnose rheumatoid arthritis, but anti-CCPs can also indicate psoriatic arthritis.
Where Is Psoriasis Most Common? Psoriasis appears to be most common in the northern countries of Europe. 4 Norway has the highest number of people with psoriasis, and East Asia has the lowest.
Similar to those with other viruses, patients with psoriatic arthritis are at a significant risk of infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.