Quality of life in psoriatic arthritis

Abstract

Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a multi-organ chronic inflammatory disease which impacts patients both physically and psychologically. The highest priority for patients goes to pain relief, but also to ability to function and participate in social life, fatigue, and psychological distress. Areas covered: In the present article, we will review current knowledge on impairments of health-related quality of life related to PsA, as well as patient priorities and patient-reported outcome measures such as the PsA Impact of Disease or the PsA Quality of Life questionnaires. The impact of PsA appears to be very broad, covering all aspects of life, i.e. activities and participation, physical and emotional aspects, but also domains such as fatigue, coping or sleep disturbance. Some of these aspects which are important for PsA patients have been included in the recently updated PsA Core Domain Set to be reported in clinical studies. Expert commentary: A better understanding of quality of life issues faced by patients with PsA could improve patient-physician communication and ultimately, quality of care. QoL is altered in PsA due both to the physical impact, but also the psychological impact of this disease. Several scores are available to better assess these aspects of PsA.

Keywords: Assessment; disease activity; fatigue; patient-reported outcomes; psoriatic arthritis; psychological distress; quality of life.