Effectiveness of conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs in psoriatic arthritis: A systematic review

Due to the clinical heterogeneity of psoriatic arthritis (PsA), recommendations have been developed by international groups to guide therapeutic decisions of the rheumatologist. The objective of the current systematic review (RS) was to evaluate the evidence of efficacy of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) in PsA.

Literature search in Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, from 2008 to 2014. We included RS, randomized clinical trials and observational studies, in patients with PsA and an evaluation of efficiency of conventional DMARDs (methotrexate, sulfasalazine, leflunomide), according to the following outcomes: peripheral and axial symptoms; peripheral radiological damage; enthesitis according to power Doppler ultrasound or magnetic resonance imaging (enthesitis count before and after therapy); dactylitis; uveitis.

Title and abstract were used to retrieve 1,662 documents for this review (Medline, n=433; EMBASE n=1,132; Cochrane, n=97), and 48 studies were selected for detailed reading; finally, 8 studies were included.

Since the studies included are not robust, and there are arguments to support the effectiveness of methotrexate, the evidence observed with the treatment of DMARDs in PsA is not conclusive.