Fibromyalgia seems to impair response to biologic drugs in psoriatic arthritis says new research

People with psoriatic arthritis who have fibromyalgia too are less likely to respond well to biologic drugs, says interesting research in Rheumatology.

Scientists set out to evaluate the impact of fibromyalgia on biologic drugs in 238 people with psoriatic arthritis, 58 of whom also had fibromyalgia. The entire group was started on a biologic drug to reduce psoriatic arthritis symptoms.

People who had fibromyalgia were more likely to stop taking the biologic drug than those who only had psoriatic arthritis. And they were less likely to reach remission.

Weight had an impact too. The volunteers who were of a normal weight were less likely to stop taking the drug than people who had a high body mass index. Men were more likely than women to have minimal disease activity, especially if they didn’t have fibromyalgia.

“Comorbid fibromyalgia, along with female gender and obesity seem to be the worst combination of negative prognostic factors in psoriatic arthritis,” the scientists conclude.

Click here to read the original research.

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