Study reports disparity in the prevalence of metabolic syndrome among patients with psoriatic and rheumatoid arthritis

by

A recent study published in Rheumatology Therapy 2022 has noted the considerable disparity in metabolic syndrome (MS) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in patients with psoriasis arthritis (PsA) and arthritis. The present study is the first of its kind conducted in mainland China that directly compared the discrepancies of MS and CVD between PsA and RA patients.

The study carried out by Li and co-workers consecutively enrolled 197 patients with PsA and 279 patients with RA. They noticed increased prevalence of both MS (36.0% versus 23.3%, P=0.002) and CVD (6.6% versus 1.1%, P=0.001) in patients with PsA compared to RA. The propensity of abdominal obesity was also found to be significantly more in PsA patients (P0.001). Patients with PsA (36%) showed increased prevalence of MS than RA patients  (23%) when the propensity score of 1:1 for sex, age, serum lipids and disease activity smoking history were considered.

Similarly, a previous study by Raychaudhuri and coworkers, published in the journal of Metabolic syndrome and related disorders, has observed increased prevalence of metabolic syndrome in PsA patients. The corresponding prevalence noted in PsA patients and in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survery (NHANES III) data were 58.1% and 35.2%. Karmacharya et al. (2021), noted higher incidence and prevalence of cardiometabolic comorbidities in PsA patients when compared to other inflammatory arthritis, such as rheumatoid arthritis and other spondylarthritis.

The present study emphasizes the need to pay more attention towards the screening and management of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases in patients with PsA. Further research should focus on the development of customized lifestyle interventions and drug therapies for such high-risk population.

References:

  1. Li B, Huang H, Zhao J, Deng X, Zhang Z. Discrepancy in Metabolic Syndrome between Psoriatic Arthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis: a Direct Comparison of Two Cohorts in One Center. Rheumatol Ther [Internet]. 2022 Oct 20 [cited 2022 Oct 27].
  2. Raychaudhuri SK, Chatterjee S, Nguyen C, Kaur M, Jialal I, Raychaudhuri SP. Increased prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in patients with psoriatic arthritis. Metab Syndr Relat Disord. 2010 Aug;8(4):331-4.
  3. Karmacharya P, Ogdie A, Eder L. Psoriatic arthritis and the association with cardiometabolic disease: a narrative review. Therapeutic Advances in Musculoskeletal. 2021 Jan 1;13:1759720X21998279.