Comorbidities Associated with Psoriatic Arthritis Compared with Non-psoriatic Spondyloarthritis: A Cross-sectional Study

Objective. Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic inflammatory skeletal disease associated with health concerns such as obesity, Type II diabetes, dyslipidemia, hypertension (HTN), and cardiovascular (CV) disease. The involvement of these metabolic factors in the pathogenesis, severity, and progression of PsA remains unclear. In our study, we compared comorbidities associated with PsA to those patients with related but non-PsA forms of spondyloarthritis (SpA). Methods. The SpA database at the Rheumatology Department of University Hospitals Leuven was analyzed in a cross-sectional manner using the demographic, medical, and laboratory information of 518 patients with PsA and non-PsA SpA. The patients were grouped by their diagnosis and evaluated on the basis of sex, age, education, work status, disease duration, treatment, and type and number of comorbidities. The data were assessed using the chi-square test, Student t test, Fisher's exact test, and logistic regression, including correction for multiple testing. Results. Out of the 518 patients (62.74% men, 37.25% women), 53.66% had comorbidities. The PsA group had 262 patients (mean age 58.8 yrs) and the non-PsA SpA group had 256 patients (mean age 44.9 yrs, p < 0.001). The PsA group was found to have more and multiple comorbidities compared with non-PsA SpA (p < 0.001). The CV and metabolic comorbidities were also significantly higher in the PsA group (p < 0.001). Coronary artery disease, HTN, hyperlipidemia, and metabolic syndrome showed a marked difference between the 2 groups (p < 0.05). An increased incidence of malignancy was found in PsA group (p < 0.05). Conclusion. Comorbidities and malignancies are increased in patients with PsA compared with non-PsA SpA, irrespective of demographic factors and type of treatment.