Do patients with psoriatic arthritis who present early fare better than those presenting later in the disease?

BACKGROUND: This investigation aimed to determine whether patients presenting to a psoriatic arthritis (PsA) clinic early in the course of the disease had less severe disease at presentation, and whether disease duration at presentation predicts progression of joint damage.
METHODS: Patients followed prospectively in a specialised clinic were divided into those first seen within 2 years of diagnosis (group 1) and those seen with more than 2 years of disease (group 2). The groups were compared with regard to demographics and disease characteristics at presentation. A multivariate analysis using a negative binomial model was conducted to determine whether patients with early disease had less progression of joint damage.
RESULTS: 436 patients were identified in group 1 and 641 patients in group 2. Patients in group 2 were older, had longer duration of psoriasis and PsA, more joint damage and were less likely to be treated with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, but had similar level of education and degree of psoriasis severity. After adjusting for age, sex, education level, clinical joint damage at first visit and treatment, group 2 had significantly greater rate of clinical damage progression compared with group 1.
CONCLUSIONS: Disease progression is more marked in patients presenting with established disease of more than 2 years' duration. These results suggest that patients with PsA should be treated earlier in the course of their disease.