Foot involvement among people with psoriatic arthritis

Abstract

Despite recognition that hallmark features of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) are predominant and persistent in the foot and ankle, limited foot-specific research exists and there are no validated outcome measures to comprehensively assess the impact of foot involvement from the perspective of people living with PsA. Previous research has shown merit in linking to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) in order to better define and understand the impact of global disease associated with PsA, but little is known about the impact of localised disease in the foot. Current understanding of foot involvement in PsA is based on a limited number of studies with relatively small sample sizes of predominantly discrete sub-populations of PsA, which fail to adequately incorporate the perspective of those living with PsA. Therefore, foot involvement in PsA remains under-researched and poorly understood with a lack of large-scale data to provide the basis for targeted disease-specific assessments and interventions. This thesis aimed to investigate foot involvement in PsA from the patient perspective, and to develop a national Australasian-based survey in order to comprehensively describe the nature, extent and location of foot problems and their impact on the daily life of people with PsA. Findings highlight the importance of involving those with PsA to generate survey items, which resulted in relevant concepts being included in the survey that were not considered to be important by health professionals. This programme of work provides a comprehensive view of the wide-reaching impact of PsA foot-specific involvement from the patient perspective, which will inform the future research priorities on targeted strategies towards improving foot health and the patient experience in PsA.

Date of Award	2020
Original language	English