Spondyloarthritis & psoriatic arthritis
Difficult-to-manage and treatment-refractory psoriatic arthritis in patients treated with biological and targeted synthetic DMARDs: prevalence and characteristics in 5 Nordic registries
Authors' conclusion
Two percent were D2M, and 1.2% were treatment-refractory, both characterised by a higher prevalence of women, depression, and opioid use.
Study context
- Population
- Patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) initiating first b/tsDMARD 1999 to 2020, 5 Nordic biologics registriesmedian follow-up 6.3 years
- Participants
- 14,362 patients
- Exposure
- Cohorts discontinuing ≥2, ≥3 or ≥4 b/tsDMARDs
- Outcome
- Prevalence of D2M and treatment-refractory PsA (registry-based components inspired by EULAR framework)
Methodological detailsmulticentre (5 Nordic biologics registries), registry-based
- Multicentre (5 Nordic biologics registries)
- Registry-based
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
median (IQR) follow-up 6.3 years (2.4-10.7)
Discontinuation of ≥2/≥3/≥4 b/tsDMARDs
36%/18%/10%
Difficult-to-manage (D2M) prevalence, ≥2/≥3/≥4 b/tsDMARD cohorts
2%/3%/3%
Treatment-refractory prevalence, ≥2/≥3/≥4 b/tsDMARD cohorts
1.2%/1.2%/0.8%
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Discontinuation of ≥2/≥3/≥4 b/tsDMARDs · median (IQR) follow-up 6.3 years (2.4-10.7)
Characteristics
- Female sex, depression, and opioid use increased with the number of b/tsDMARD discontinuations
Original publication
Difficult-to-manage and treatment-refractory psoriatic arthritis in patients treated with biological and targeted synthetic DMARDs: prevalence and characteristics in 5 Nordic registries. Ann Rheum Dis. Published 5 September 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →