Vascular Effects of Achieving Minimal Disease Activity in Psoriatic Arthritis - a 2 Year Prospective Cohort Study

Background:

Patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) experience substantial morbidity and unfavorable outcomes at referral centers. Although studies on all-cause mortality have yielded mixed results, increased cardiovascular (CV) mortality and morbidity in PsA have been consistently reported. Data from our group and others have shown that underlying these higher CV disease (CVD) rates is a greater burden of subclinical carotid atherosclerosis. Increased intima-media thickness (IMT) significantly correlates with traditional risk factors and disease-related parameters. An increased prevalence of arterial stiffness has also been demonstrated in patients with psoriasis and PsA compared with controls. In PsA, criteria for minimal disease activity (MDA) have been developed and validated. These criteria use 7 measurements including entheseal and skin assessments. Achieving MDA by these criteria results in less radiographic damage in the long term. The development of this instrument is a step toward 'treatment to target' in PsA. MDA is achieved in 48-60% of patients at ≥ 1 visit, and is sustained for ≥ 12 months (sustained MDA) in at least one third of PsA patients in a large observational cohort.

While achieving MDA may result in significant benefits in articular disease, little is known about its effect on extra-articular disease, including CVD risk. The use of surrogate end points instead of actual CV events may provide more evidence on whether PsA patients may benefit from potent anti-inflammatory treatment on the prevention of premature atherosclerosis. Data from our group and others linked the suppression of inflammation using anti-tumour necrosis factor (anti-TNF) with a favourable effect on CV surrogate makers, including carotid IMT and arterial stiffness. More recently, a tight-control treatment strategy aiming at remission was effective in improving arterial stiffness in our early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) cohort. There is an imperative need for interventional trials with CV end points to investigate whether achievement of MDA by a protocolized treatment strategy could reduce CVD risk in PsA. To fill in these gaps of knowledge, we propose a prospective cohort study to ascertain whether achieving MDA through a protocolized treatment strategy may prevent long term progression of IMT and arterial stiffness to a greater extent than those who cannot achieve MDA in patients with PsA.

Aim of the study:

Primary outcome: