The utility of the arthritis impact measurement scales for patients with psoriatic arthritis.

The Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales (AIMS) consists of 9 scales that measure physical function, pain and psychosocial function. It has been validated for use in various forms of arthritis, but not in psoriatic arthritis (PsA). The AIMS was administered to 145 patients attending our PsA clinic. We carried out simultaneous assessment of clinical measures of function, measures of disease activity, and measures of disease severity. Most scales of physical function were moderately to highly correlated with clinical measures of function (r = 0.33-0.57; p = 0.0001), measures of disease activity (r = 0.24-0.53, p = 0.003-0.0001), and measures of disease severity (r = 0.23-0.6; p = 0.02-0.0001). The pain scale was highly correlated with clinical measures of function and measures of disease activity (r = 0.38-0.58; p = 0.0001) but not with measures of disease severity. Of the psychosocial scales, the depression scale was moderately correlated with clinical measures of function (r = 0.27-0.3; p = 0.001-0.0001). Our data suggest that the physical function and pain scales are good indicators of overall function and disease activity and are valid for use in PsA.