Psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis: a clinical review

Abstract

Psoriasis is a common, systemic, inflammatory disease with genetic features that affects the skin and/or the joints and may be associated with significant morbidity. Psoriasis has a major impact on a patients' quality of life, which may not correlate with disease severity as measured by the physician. In recent years, extensive research on psoriasis has demonstrated this disease to be an immunologically mediated disorder. The development of targeted immunotherapeutic agents to treat psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis has been a critical advance in the care of patients with these conditions. This chapter will focus on the clinical features of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, as well as potential triggers and systemic associations. The ability to identify psoriasis and knowledge of the disease associations and triggers will aid in the physician's capacity to most effectively treat patients with this disease.