Health Central reports on how to manage psoriatic arthritis (PsA) according to experts including Sarah B. Lieber, MD, MS, rheumatologist at HSS. 

Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic inflammatory disease that can impact practically every part of your body. With psoriatic arthritis, you may experience peripheral arthritis, skin disease, spine disease, enthesitis, dactylitis, nail disease, as well as other comorbidities such as eye disease and anxiety.  But recent treatment advances have improved outcomes for those with this disease and lifestyle modifications are helping people with PsA stay active longer.

Frailty can be another outcome of untreated psoriatic arthritis, per an American College of Rheumatology study. “The prevalence of frailty in older adults with psoriatic arthritis was higher than the prevalence found in older adults in the general population in prior studies,” said Dr. Lieber, who was a co-author on the study. 

The frailty in people with PsA was compounded by issues such as comorbid conditions and falls, said Dr. Lieber, who also found that other PsA-related symptoms seemed to multiply when frailty was not addressed. For instance, “we found that anxiety was more common among adults with psoriatic arthritis who were frail than those who were not frail,” Dr. Liber explained. 

Read the full article at healthcentral.com.