Development of a Predictive Model for Screening Patients with Psoriasis at Increased Risk of Psoriatic Arthritis

Psoriatic arthritis often occurs in the population of patients with psoriasis. It brings a huge burden and pain to patients. At present, the diagnosis for psoriatic arthritis is very challenging. Numerous research studies have begun to focus on identifying patients with psoriasis at increased risk of psoriatic arthritis. Among a lot of modalities, ultrasound has been considered as a sensitive and convenient tool for screening early psoriatic arthritis. Our study successfully established a predictive model based on ultrasound variables to screen patients with psoriasis at high risk of transiting to psoriatic arthritis. After internal and external validation, it showed great accuracy and generalizability. We recommend that clinicians perform ultrasound screening of patients with psoriasis in clinical routine and get their risk value of transiting to psoriatic arthritis by using this model. For those patients with a high risk of progression to psoriatic arthritis, clinicians should refer them to a rheumatology department as soon as possible so that they could have access to early and effective management which might bring them good clinical and imaging outcomes.