Around 30% of patients with psoriasis eventually develop psoriatic arthritis (PsA), but the mechanisms driving this transition remain unclear. One proposed marker is subclinical synovitis, which is believed to arise before PsA becomes clinically apparent. Detecting this feature in patients with psoriasis who show no musculoskeletal (MSK) symptoms could provide important clues about early disease evolution. To examine this, a meta-analysis pooled data from 12 studies including 2,606 individuals (1,593 with psoriasis , 327 with PsA, and 686 healthy controls).
The findings showed that patients with psoriasis were 2.5 times more likely to have synovitis than healthy individuals, with MRI proving more sensitive than ultrasonography (RR: 6.40 vs. 2.50). While synovitis also appeared more frequent in PsA than in psoriasis, the difference was not statistically significant (RR: 0.50). Overall,…
