While it is widely known that women and men are equally likely to have psoriatic arthritis, medical experts in the U.S. and other countries are learning more about how often the autoimmune condition shows up in different racial and ethnic groups.
Because the condition is often misdiagnosed, and how we identify it isn’t consistent, it’s hard to know how many people in the world are affected by it. By some estimates, psoriatic arthritis affects about 1% of the global population. In the U.S., the condition affects about 1.5 million people.
Psoriatic arthritis can cause severe pain, swelling, and tenderness in joints, among other symptoms. You may not have the same experience with the disease as other people do. People who have psoriasis are more likely to have the disease than those who don’t. In fact, it appears that about one-third of people with psoriasis will get the disorder. Your genes and environment, such as infections and injuries to joints and tendons, appear to play a role in it, too.
How Common Is Psoriatic Arthritis in Different Racial and Ethnic Groups?
Similar to trends seen in psoriasis, it seems that white people are most likely to get the condition. In the U.S., for example, white people seem to be much more likely to develop it than their Black, Hispanic, and Asian peers.
Scientists studying psoriatic disease in the U.S. think that the rates may be higher among non-white Americans but many may be misdiagnosed with other diseases or don’t have access to specialists familiar with the condition.
Racial and ethnic differences are also found in other countries. There is some evidence, for example, that people from South Asia seem to have a much more severe course of the disease than people of Northern European descent, who are more likely to have the disorder.
Germany, Italy, Sweden, and the United Kingdom appear to have the highest rates of the disorder among select industrialized countries. Information about the disease from Africa and other regions is largely unreliable.
Does Psoriatic Arthritis Affect Everyone in the Same Way?
No, the severity of the condition appears to vary wildly from person to person. Some people could have mild symptoms on one or two joints, and others could have major discomfort and other problems with multiple ones.
Some psoriatic disease experts think that people’s experiences with the disease can be really different because they may not have access to healthcare professionals. Research about psoriasis in racial and ethnic groups may help shed more light on that. Black and Hispanic Americans appear to have a more severe course of the skin disorder, in part because darker skin may be more likely to have thicker, more scaly patches than lighter skin.
Does Your Age Play a Role in Getting Psoriatic Arthritis?
The disease is most common among adults, but you can have it in childhood. In adults, the condition generally appears between the ages of 30 and 50. Arthritis is an early symptom of the disorder in children, and psoriasis is an early symptom in adults.
Do Other Medical Conditions Put You at Higher Risk for Psoriatic Arthritis?
It appears your genes and immune system may have something to do with it, but it could also be caused by external things, such as infections and injuries to joints and tendons. Among people with psoriasis, risk factors for the disease may include family history of the disorder, obesity, and smoking.
Is Psoriatic Arthritis a Risk Factor of Other Diseases?
Yes, particularly for cardiovascular conditions.
Hypertension, diabetes, and obesity are among common heart disease and stroke risk factors that seem to develop after people are diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, in part because of the chronic inflammation that comes with the disorder. But there’s also evidence that many people with the condition already have those health issues – together called comorbidities – when they receive their diagnosis. The presence of those conditions may be because psoriatic arthritis shares risk factors with heart disease, stroke and other diseases, the physical problems typical in people with the disorder, or chance.
There’s also research that suggests that people with psoriatic arthritis may be vulnerable to mental health and lung diseases.
