Subcutaneous anti-TNF alfa induced sustained minimal disease activity and remission in psoriatic arthritis patients: a retrospective study.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the present study was to assess the rate of sustained Minimal Disease Activity (MDA) and remission in a group of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) patients treated with TNFα blockers.

METHODS

We perform a retrospective study on our database of PsA patients treated with adalimumab, etanercept and golimumab, with a minimum of 12 months of follow up. Patients were considered in sustained MDA when they met at least 5/7 of the criteria previously defined for at least 12 months of follow up. DAS28-CRP < 2.6, DAPSA score ≤ 4 and patient global assessment (PGA) ≤ 20 mm were also evaluated as remission criteria. Concordance between the remission criteria and MDA was also performed.

RESULTS

Of the 81 patients treated with TNFα blockers, at baseline no patients were in MDA or had a DAPSA score ≤ 4, while 17 (20.9%) had a DAS28-CRP score < 2.6. PGA ≤ 20 was recorded in 6 patients (7%). Sustained MDA was achieved in 35 (43.2%) patients while sustained DAPSA, DAS28-CRP and PGA remission were obtained respectively in 19.7%, 35.8% and 44.4% of patients. No difference was found between the three anti-TNFα in respect to the probability of achieve MDA.

CONCLUSIONS

In this retrospective study, sustained MDA was achieved in 43.2% of patients treated with TNFα blockers. Moreover, sustained remission was achieved in a consistent number of patients, configuring this as an achievable target for PsA patients.