Prognosis and follow-up of psoriatic arthritis with peripheral joint involvement: Development of recommendations for clinical practice based on published evidence and expert opinion

Abstract Objectives To develop recommendations about prognosis and follow-up of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) with peripheral joint involvement in everyday clinical practice. Methods The strategy was as following: (a) The choice of five questions, by the scientific committee according to the Delphi method, considered as a basis for the recommendations; (b) the Systematic Literature Research based on Medline, Cochrane and abstracts from the annual meetings of SFR, EULAR and ACR. An expert committee composed with 68 rheumatologists elaborated and validated the recommendations, specifying the strength and the degree of agreement for each of them. Results The questions selected were: (1) How can articular and cutaneous disease activity of PsA be assessed in usual clinical practice? (2) Which parameters are predictive for functional, radiological and fatal outcome in PsA? (3) Which clinical and biological parameters are useful for the follow-up of PsA? At which frequency? (4) Which X-rays are useful for the follow-up of PsA? At which frequency? (5) How can the response to treatments be assessed in PsA? The literature search identified 1181 abstracts and 123 articles were included and analyzed. Seven recommendations, whose strength ranged from B to D, were drafted and validated by a final vote of the expert committee. Conclusion Seven recommendations about follow-up of patients with PsA for daily practice were developed. They can be expected to improve clinical practice uniformity and, in the longer term, to optimize the management of patients with PsA.