Special Article: 2018 American College of Rheumatology/National Psoriasis Foundation Guideline for the Treatment of Psoriatic Arthritis

Abstract

Objective: To develop an evidence-based guideline for the pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic treatment of psoriatic arthritis (PsA), as a collaboration between the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) and the National Psoriasis Foundation (NPF).

Methods: We identified critical outcomes in PsA and clinically relevant PICO (population/intervention/comparator/outcomes) questions. A Literature Review Team performed a systematic literature review to summarize evidence supporting the benefits and harms of available pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic therapies for PsA. GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation) methodology was used to rate the quality of the evidence. A voting panel, including rheumatologists, dermatologists, other health professionals, and patients, achieved consensus on the direction and the strength of the recommendations.

Results: The guideline covers the management of active PsA in patients who are treatment-naive and those who continue to have active PsA despite treatment, and addresses the use of oral small molecules, tumor necrosis factor inhibitors, interleukin-12/23 inhibitors (IL-12/23i), IL-17 inhibitors, CTLA4-Ig (abatacept), and a JAK inhibitor (tofacitinib). We also developed recommendations for psoriatic spondylitis, predominant enthesitis, and treatment in the presence of concomitant inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, or serious infections. We formulated recommendations for a treat-to-target strategy, vaccinations, and nonpharmacologic therapies. Six percent of the recommendations were strong and 94% conditional, indicating the importance of active discussion between the health care provider and the patient to choose the optimal treatment.

Conclusion: The 2018 ACR/NPF PsA guideline serves as a tool for health care providers and patients in the selection of appropriate therapy in common clinical scenarios. Best treatment decisions consider each individual patient situation. The guideline is not meant to be proscriptive and should not be used to limit treatment options for patients with PsA.

Figure 1.

Pharmacologic, nonpharmacologic, and symptomatic therapies for psoriatic arthritis. Pharmacologic therapies are displayed in the blue boxes and include oral small molecules (OSMs), tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) biologics, interleukin-17 inhibitor (IL-17i) biologics, an IL-12/23i biologic, CTLA4-immunoglobulin, and a JAK inhibitor. While there are numerous nonpharmacologic therapies available, 6 of these are addressed in this guideline. Symptomatic therapies include nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, systemic glucocorticoids, and local glucocorticoid injections. Systemic glucocorticoids or local injections are not addressed in this guideline.

Figure 2.

Examples of “severe” psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and psoriasis. The guideline development group defined severe PsA and psoriasis as the presence of 1 or more of the items listed. This is not a formal definition. There have been many definitions of severe psoriasis used over time—the items here are adapted from the 2007 National Psoriasis Foundation expert consensus statement for moderate-to-severe psoriasis (68). In clinical trials, severe psoriasis has been defined as a Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) score of ≥12 and a body surface area (BSA) score of ≥10 (25). ESR = erythrocyte sedimentation rate; CRP = C-reactive protein.

Figure 3.

Recommendations for the treatment of patients with active psoriatic arthritis (PsA) who are treatment-naive (no exposure to oral small molecules [OSMs] or other treatments). All recommendations are conditional based on low- to very-low-quality evidence. A conditional recommendation means that the panel believed the desirable effects of following the recommendation probably outweigh the undesirable effects, so the course of action would apply to the majority of the patients, but some may not want to follow the recommendation. Because of this, conditional recommendations are preference sensitive and always warrant a shared decision-making approach. Due to the complexity of management of active PsA, not all clinical situations and choices could be depicted in this flow chart, and therefore we show only the key recommendations. For a complete list of recommendations, please refer to the Results section of the text. For the level of evidence supporting each recommendation, see Table 1 and the related section in the Results. This figure is derived from recommendations based on PICO (population/intervention/comparator/outcomes) questions that are based on the common clinical situations. Active PsA was defined as symptoms at an unacceptably bothersome level as reported by the patient, and judged by the examining health care provider to be due to PsA based on the presence of at least 1 of the following: actively inflamed joints, dactylitis, enthesitis, axial disease, active skin and/or nail involvement, and/or extraarticular manifestations such as uveitis or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). TNFi = tumor necrosis factor inhibitor; IL-17i = interleukin-17 inhibitor; MTX = methotrexate; NSAIDs = nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs.

Figure 4.

Recommendations for the treatment of patients with active psoriatic arthritis (PsA) despite treatment with oral small molecules (OSMs). All recommendations are conditional based on low- to very-low-quality evidence. A conditional recommendation means that the panel believed the desirable effects of following the recommendation probably outweigh the undesirable effects, so the course of action would apply to the majority of the patients, but some may not want to follow the recommendation. Because of this, conditional recommendations are preference sensitive and always warrant a shared decision-making approach. Due to the complexity of management of active PsA, not all clinical situations and choices could be depicted in this flow chart, and therefore we show only the key recommendations. For a complete list of recommendations, please refer to the Results section of the text. For the level of evidence supporting each recommendation, see Table 2 and the related section in the Results. TNFi = tumor necrosis factor inhibitor; IL-17i = interleukin-17 inhibitor; MTX = methotrexate.

Figure 5.

Recommendations for the treatment of patients with active psoriatic arthritis (PsA) despite treatment with a tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) as monotherapy or as combination therapy with methotrexate (MTX). All recommendations are conditional based on low- to very-low-quality evidence. A conditional recommendation means that the panel believed the desirable effects of following the recommendation probably outweigh the undesirable effects, so the course of action would apply to the majority of the patients, but some may not want to follow the recommendation. Because of this, conditional recommendations are preference sensitive and always warrant a shared decision-making approach. Due to the complexity of management of active PsA, not all clinical situations and choices could be depicted in this flow chart, and therefore we show only the key recommendations. For a complete list of recommendations, please refer to the Results section of the text. For the level of evidence supporting each recommendation, see Table 3 and the related section in the Results. IL-17i = interleukin-17 inhibitor; IV = intravenous.

Figure 6.

Recommendations for the treatment of patients with active psoriatic arthritis (PsA) despite treatment with interleukin-17 inhibitor (IL-17i) or IL-12/23i biologic monotherapy. All recommendations are conditional based on low- to very-low-quality of evidence. A conditional recommendation means that the panel believed the desirable effects of following the recommendation probably outweigh the undesirable effects, so the course of action would apply to the majority of the patients, but some may not want to follow the recommendation. Because of this, conditional recommendations are preference sensitive and always warrant a shared decision-making approach. Due to the complexity of management of active PsA, not all clinical situations and choices could be depicted in this flow chart, and therefore we show only the key recommendations. For a complete list of recommendations, please refer to the Results section of the text. For the level of evidence supporting each recommendation, see Table 4 and the related section in the Results. TNFi = tumor necrosis factor inhibitor; MTX = methotrexate.