Objectives: To present a programme for a psoriatic arthritis (PsA) register (SwePsA) and to report the early experiences of a test period.
Methods: Patients with symptoms and/or signs consistent with PsA or resembling PsA are enrolled into a follow-up programme, provided the disease duration at inclusion is not longer than two years.
Results: Ninety-two patients were included into the programme during the test period. Sixty patients were classified as having PsA, 39 mono/oligoarticular, 19 polyarticular and two predominant axial. Thirty-two patients were classified as possible PsA. Thirty-two of the 92 included patients were followed for one year. Seven of 18 with mono/oligoarticular PsA had advanced to polyarticular PsA. Four of nine patients initially classified as possible PsA evolved into definite polyarticular PsA. Patients with polyarticular PsA had evidence of more severe disease than had patients with mono/oligoarticular PsA.
Conclusions: The programme was easy to administrate and not very time-consuming in daily clinical practice. The preliminary experiences emphasize the importance of early diagnosis and the need for reliable outcome predictors for this potentially severe disorder.