Screening and diagnosis in psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Experiences of screening and diagnosis from the perspective of patients with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis (PsA): GAPS

• IRAS ID

  219093

• Contact name

  Emma Dures

• Contact email

  emma2.dures@uwe.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  University of the West of England, Bristol

• Duration of Study in the UK

  5 years, 0 months, 27 days

• Research summary

  Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is an inflammatory arthritis which can cause pain, swelling and stiffness in the joints and may result in severe disability and reduced quality of life. Patients who have psoriasis are at greater risk of developing PsA than those without.

  This study is part of the PROMPT programme of research to test whether early detection of undiagnosed PsA in patients with psoriasis improves their outcomes. The burden of undiagnosed PsA is high and there is emerging evidence that delay in diagnosis results in worse outcomes. Therefore, the principal PROMPT study is a randomised controlled trial (RCT) known as TUDOR, which is investigating the benefit of screening patients who have psoriasis for PsA, using enhanced surveillance in primary care.

  Before decisions about new clinical care pathways can be made, it is crucial to understand the patient perspective about what is acceptable; both in relation to the current healthcare context and the proposed changes. Therefore evidence is needed of patients’ experiences of receiving a diagnosis of PsA in the current healthcare system. Once participants recruited to the enhanced surveillance arm of TUDOR have exited the RCT, evidence will also be needed of their experiences of screening. This should include both those who were diagnosed with PsA as a consequence of screening and those who were not. Taken together, this will enable comparison between the two types of care provision (current healthcare and screening) plus comparison between the impact of the two screening outcomes (diagnosis of PsA or not) from the patient perspective. Overall, the study will deepen our understanding of patients’ perceptions about barriers and facilitators of diagnosis and screening, and potentially inform the design and delivery of clinical care pathways.

  There are two main aims of this study:
  1.To understand experiences of diagnosis in the current healthcare context from the perspective of patients newly diagnosed with PsA
  2.To understand experiences of screening from the perspective of patients with psoriasis who were recruited to the screening arm in the TUDOR RCT

• REC name

  North East - Newcastle & North Tyneside 1 Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  16/NE/0393

• Date of REC Opinion

  1 Dec 2016

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion