Delay and diagnostic pathway of patients with psoriatic arthritis in Spain

Delayed diagnosis results in a worse prognosis in patients with psoriatic arthritis. Our objective is to determine the diagnostic delay, the specialties consulted and the referral points of patients with psoriatic arthritis in our environment.

We distributed a survey to members of the Spanish association Acción Psoriasis inquiring about the objectives of the study.

A total of 503 surveys were analysed. The diagnostic delay was 4.01 ± 1.42 years. The proportion of patients who had consulted, before diagnosis, primary care was 79.9%, traumatology 33.8% and the emergency department was 30.2%. The proportion of referrals that eventually led to diagnosis came from primary care in 29.3% of cases, traumatology 15.8% and the emergency department 3.5%.

The delay in diagnosis far outweighs other European results. Emergency departments are an important transit point for these patients, but the proportion of referrals is very low. We believe that focusing on the importance of early diagnosis in this particular medical sector could resolve a large part of diagnostic delay.