Impact of Psoriatic Arthritis

PsA is a painful and unpredictable disease that can cause physical disability, with a major impact on people’s ability to participate in daily activities. It can also have a negative effect on people’s social and sexual lives and cause sleep problems, fatigue, and emotional problems such as anxiety and depression¹.

Some individuals can have periods with few symptoms, followed by a period with severe symptoms (a flare). Others experience gradual worsening of symptoms, which do not improve. It can be difficult to know whether an increase in symptoms is due to a flare which will settle, or to worsening disease.
Many patients with PsA are unemployed or struggle with productivity at work¹.

What are the symptoms of PsA?

Symptoms of PsA include:

Joint pain, swelling, warmth, and tenderness².
Difficulty moving joints, or joint and/or back stiffness, especially in the mornings. Around half of patients have morning stiffness lasting more than 30 minutes².
Inflammation and pain in tendons or entheses (tendon attachments). This is especially common in the Achilles tendon, soles of the feet, and tendons attached to the pelvic bones².
Sensitive, swollen fingers and/or toes (dactylitis). This is sometimes called ‘sausage toe’ or ‘sausage finger’².
Nail psoriasis and nail loss².

References

Gudu T, Gossec Quality of life in psoriatic arthritis. Expert Rev Clin Immunol. 2018;14(5):405-17.
Gladman D, Ritchlin UpToDate Patient education: Psoriatic arthritis (Beyond the Basics) 2024 [Available from: https://www.uptodate.com/contents/psoriatic-arthritis-beyond-the-basics#H1