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The following is a summary of “Enhanced surveillance for the detection of psoriatic arthritis in a UK primary care psoriasis population: results from the TUDOR trial,” published in the July 2024 issue of Rheumatology by McHugh et al.

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to assess if early identification of undiagnosed psoriatic arthritis (PsA) in patients with psoriasis led to better physical function outcomes 24 months after their initial registration in primary care.

They involved patients with psoriasis who showed signs of suspected inflammatory arthritis during screening. Participants in the enhanced surveillance (ES) arm were assessed at baseline, 12, and 24 months, while patients in the standard care (SC) arm were evaluated at 24 months. The Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index (HAQ-DI) was used to measure outcomes at 24 months post-registration for participants diagnosed with PsA.

The result showed that 2225 participants registered across 135 GP practices, with 1123 assigned to the ES arm and 1102 to the SC arm. The primary analysis included 87 participants who were positively diagnosed with PsA, 64 in the group with ES, and 23 in the group with SC. The aOR was 0.64 (95% CI: 0.17, 2.38) for achieving a HAQ-DI score of 0 at 24 months post-registration in the group with ES compared to the group with SC. The aOR (1.12, 95%CI:0.67-1.86) showed no significant difference in HAQ-DI scores at 0 to 24 months (P=0.66) between groups with ES and SC.

Investigators concluded that the trial lacked sufficient power to show that early PsA diagnosis via ES in primary care improved physical function at 24 months compared to SC in patients with psoriasis.

Source: academic.oup.com/rheumatology/advance-article/doi/10.1093/rheumatology/keae374/7717970