Sex-specific differences and how to handle them in early psoriatic arthritis

Objectives

The prevalence of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is the same in men and women; however, the latter experience a higher burden of disease and are affected more frequently by polyarthritis. Here, we performed an early PsA cohort analysis to assess sex-related differences in demographics, disease characteristics, and evolution over 1 year including applied treatment strategies.

Methods

Our study is embedded in the Dutch south-west Early Psoriatic Arthritis cohoRt. We described patient characteristics and treatment decisions. For the comparison across sexes and baseline and 1 year follow-up, appropriate tests depending on the distribution were used.

Results

Two hundred seventy-three men and 294 women with no significant differences in age and ethnicity were included. Women reported significantly longer duration of symptoms before diagnosis and significantly higher tender joint count, a higher disease activity, higher levels of pain, and lower functional capacity. Although minimal disease activity (MDA) rates increased over time for both sexes, MDA remained significantly more prevalent among men at 1 year (58.1% vs 35.7%, p < 0.00).

Initially, treatment strategies were similar in both sexes with methotrexate being the most frequently used drug during the first year. Women received methotrexate for a shorter period [196 (93–364) vs 306 (157–365), p < 0.00] and therefore received a lower cumulative dose compared to men. Retention time was shorter for all DMARDs, and women had a delayed start on b-DMARDs.

Conclusion

After 1 year of standard-of-care treatment, women did not surpass their baseline disadvantages. Despite the overall improvement, they still presented higher disease activity, higher levels of pain, and lower functional capacity score than men. The nature of these findings may advocate a need for sex specific adjustment of treatment strategies and evaluation in early PsA patients.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13075-021-02680-y.

OP0057 SEX SPECIFIC DIFFERENCES IN EARLY PSORIATIC ARTHRITIS

Background:

Although the prevalence of Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA) is the same in men and women, women experience a higher burden of disease (pain, disability, fatigue) (1).The persistent belief that women tend to over-report their symptoms compared to men may also contribute to under or delayed diagnosis in women. The clinical pattern of PsA also differs, with men presenting more commonly with peripheral and axial joint damage and women being affected more frequently by polyarthritis (2). Furthermore, most disease activity measures contain pain and quality of life measurement metrics that may perform differently by sex. As a result, this may affect the clinician’s perception of disease severity, influence management decisions and subsequently introduce sex bias in prescribing.

Objectives:

To assess sex-related differences in baseline demographics, disease characteristics and evolution over 1 year in patients with newly diagnosed PsA.

Methods:

Our study is embedded in the Dutch south-west Early Psoriatic Arthritis prospective cohort study. We described patient characteristics using simple descriptive analysis techniques. For the comparison across sexes and baseline and 1 year follow up, appropriate tests depending on the distribution were used.

Results:

273 men and 294 women with no significant differences in age and ethnicity were included. Women reported significantly longer duration of symptoms before diagnosis and significantly fewer of them were in paid employment at baseline. Oligoarthritis was the most common pattern of arthritis in both sexes. Polyarthritis and enthesitis were more prevalent in women who also presented at baseline a significantly higher tender joint count (Fig.1) than men but no difference in swollen joint count.

Figure 1.

Longitudinal evolution of TJC68, Pain, VAS global, BRAF for men and women in the first year of PsA.

All composite indices (CPDAI, DAPSA, GRACE, MDA, Psoriatic ArthritiS Disease Activity Score) showed significantly worse results in women at baseline. Women also suffered more frequently from comorbid medical conditions, fatigue and anxiety, and reported more severe limitations in function and worse quality of life.

At 12 months women, despite the improvement they made, reported significantly higher levels of pain compared to men. Although MDA rates increase over time for both sexes,(Fig.2), it remained significantly more prevalent among men (19.0% vs 11.1% at inclusion,p<0.05, and 58.1% vs 35.7%,p<0.00, at T12). DAPSA was significantly higher in women at both timepoints and a significantly higher percentage of men presented remission according to DAPSA score at 12 months.

Figure 2.

Longitudinal evolution of composite measures for men and women in the first year of PsA.

Conclusion:

After 1 year of follow-up women didn’t surpass their baseline disadvantages and despite the improvement, they still present higher disease activity, more pain and lower functional capacity than men. The nature of these findings may advocate a need for sex specific adjustment of treatment strategies and evaluation in psoriatic arthritis as sex-related difference in outcome persisted over time.

References:

[1]Eder L, Thavaneswaran A, Chandran V, Gladman DD. Gender difference in disease expression, radiographic damage and disability among patients with psoriatic arthritis. Annals of the rheumatic diseases. 2013;72(4):578-82.

[2]Orbai AM, Perin J, Gorlier C, Coates LC, Kiltz U, Leung YY, et al. Determinants of Patient-Reported Psoriatic Arthritis Impact of Disease: An Analysis of the Association with Gender in 458 Patients from 14 Countries. Arthritis care & research. 2019.

Disclosure of Interests:

Evangelia Passia: None declared, Marijn Vis Grant/research support from: Novartis, Pfizer – grant/research support, Consultant of: AbbVie, Celgene Corporation, Eli Lilly, Novartis, Pfizer – consultant, Laura C Coates: None declared, Anushka Soni Grant/research support from: Oxford-UCB prize fellowship, Speakers bureau: Janssen and Abbvie, Ilja Tchetverikov: None declared, Andreas Gerards: None declared, Lindy-Anne Korswagen: None declared, Marc R Kok Grant/research support from: BMS and Novartis, Consultant of: Novartis and Galapagos, Wiebo van der Graaff: None declared, Josien Veris-van Dieren: None declared, Natasja Denissen: None declared, F. Fodili: None declared, M. Starmans: None declared, Yvonne Goekoop-Ruiterman: None declared, M. van Oosterhout: None declared, Jolanda Luime: None declared