Researchers created and validated a tool called PRESTO that identifies psoriasis patients who have a higher chance of developing psoriatic arthritis and may therefore benefit from preventative medications.

The findings of the study were published in Arthritis & Rheumatology. In the University of Toronto psoriasis cohort, which included 635 patients with psoriasis, 51 and 71 patients acquired psoriatic arthritis throughout the course of 1-year and 5-year follow-ups, respectively.

Patients who were younger, male, had a family history of psoriasis, had back stiffness, nail pitting (dents, ridges, and holes in the nails), joint stiffness, used biologic drugs, were in poorer health, and had more severe pain had an increased likelihood of developing psoriatic arthritis within a year.

Patients with morning stiffness, psoriatic nail lesions, severe psoriasis, exhaustion, pain, and usage of systemic non-biologic medicine or phototherapy had a greater risk of developing psoriatic arthritis within 5 years.

Taking these data into account, PRESTO uses a mathematical model to estimate a patient’s risk of developing psoriatic arthritis. The PRESTO calculator is available online.

The PRESTO tool could serve future efforts to reduce the progression from psoriasis to psoriatic arthritis. For example, PRESTO can be used to enrich prevention trials with at-risk populations.

It can also identify patients with psoriasis who can benefit from early treatments, and it can serve as an educational tool for patients to increase awareness of psoriatic arthritis risk, said corresponding author Lihi Eder, MD, PhD, of Women’s College Hospital and the University of Toronto, in Canada.

“Ultimately, we hope that these efforts will improve the lives of people living with psoriatic disease.”