Difficult-to-Treat Psoriatic Arthritis

Defining Characteristics of Difficult-to-Treat (D2T) and Complex to Manage (C2M) Psoriatic Arthritis

Brief description of the D2T/C2M project :

This project represents a multi-faceted effort to develop an expert-driven and data-driven definition of Difficult-to-Treat (D2T) and Complex-to-Manage (C2M) Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA). D2T refers to cases of PsA that are resistant or refractory to various medications. On the other hand, C2M covers a broader spectrum of challenges. Beyond treatment resistance, it includes the ramifications of treatment side effects, co-existing health conditions, and additional factors such as fatigue, emotional distress, work impairments, and other life aspects affected by the disease.

The project began with a Scoping Review of the literature, which has already been published. Subsequently, a survey was conducted among healthcare practitioners, which is now completed, submitted, and under review. The next crucial phase involved a patient survey, which aimed to deepen our understanding of D2T and C2M PsA from the patient's perspective. Through this survey, we sought to gather patient experiences and insights, which are instrumental in shaping a final definition that incorporates patient viewpoints. The data collection of this survey has now been closed and the analysis is currently under way.

Scoping Literature Review 

Our scoping literature review was published in RMD Open and reveals diverse definitions for D2T-PsA and Active PsA in the literature.