Psoriatic arthritis and obesity: a review of clinical burden and considerations for comprehensive care

Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic inflammatory disease characterised by joint involvement, significant impact on quality of life and frequently linked with obesity, metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular comorbidities. Despite advances in PsA management, obesity remains a critical factor influencing disease severity, treatment response and patient outcomes. We examine the interplay between PsA and obesity, the current clinical guidelines, gaps in clinical practice, research on shared inflammatory pathways, treatment implications and the potential of weight-loss interventions to modify disease progression. This comprehensive narrative review uses a non-systematic search of PubMed, Embase and Scopus databases and analyses literature on PsA, obesity, cytokine signalling and therapeutic outcomes, with priority to clinical trials, meta-analyses and large cohort studies. Obesity exacerbates PsA through systemic inflammation, adipokine dysregulation and mechanical joint stress, contributing to worse clinical outcomes, increased comorbidity and poorer response to biologics. Weight management improves disease activity and therapeutic efficacy, although its effects on PsA pathophysiology remain underexplored. Our review highlights that obesity should be recognised as a risk factor and comorbidity in PsA for the integral management of patients. Further research is needed to elucidate the cytokine and molecular changes induced by weight management, generate more clinical data and optimise personalised management strategies. While clinical guidelines recommend a coordinated care approach to optimising the management of PsA in patients with obesity, emerging clinical data support further focus on the role of targeting inflammation, obesity and metabolic dysfunction to improve long-term PsA outcomes and quality of life, mitigate complications and provide better cardiovascular and overall health to patients.