Meta-analysis of findings from previous psoriatic arthritis (PsA) studies identified a significantly higher risk of developing vertebral fractures in patients with PsA. The results of the study, led by Nipith Charoenngam, MD, and colleagues, were published in Current Rheumatology Review.
Researchers conducted searches for “Psoriatic Arthritis”, and “Vertebral Fracture” to identify potential studies from the MEDLINE, and EMBASE databases from inception to March 2020. Studies included in the meta-analysis were cohort studies on psoriatic arthritis, and individuals without psoriasis that measured the incidence of vertebral fractures.
Inclusion criteria also required that each study report standardized incidence ration, hazard risk ratio, or relative risk with related 95% confidence intervals (CIs) when comparing the incidence of vertebral fractures between the PsA and no-psoriasis cohorts. Researchers pooled the final results with retrieved point estimates with standard errors from each study using the random-effect model, generic inverse variance method.
The initial search identified a total of 26,090 articles. After three investigators performed two rounds of independent review, five studies were selected for the final meta-analysis.
Investigators found that PsA is significantly associated with vertebral fractures with a pooled odds ratio of 2.09 (95% CI, 1.11 – 3.96; I2 70%). However, the authors noted that their funnel plot was fairly asymmetric and suggested the possible presence of publication bias in favor of the studies. Ultimately, they concluded that psoriatic arthritis patients have a significantly elevated risk of developing vertebral fracture.
Source: Current Rheumatology Reviews
