[Disability assessment tools in psoriatic arthritis: VICON gait].

Aim: To evaluate health-related quality of life and disability in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and to perform a complex biomechanical gait analysis in patients with PsA versus healthy controls.

Material And Methods: Preliminary prospective study on 33 consecutive PsA (2006 CASPAR criteria), with active multiple joint involvement disease. Assessments were done according to a predefined protocol and included: rheumatology-clinical evaluation and activity scores, dermatology- Psoriasis Area and Severity Index, PASI-score; functional disability- Health Assessment Questionnaire, HAQ, quality of life score- Short Form36, SF36; biomechanical gait analysis- tridimensional VICON MX optical motion capture system in PsA versus 33 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. SPSS, EPI-INFO and MS EXCEL were used for statistical analysis.

Results: While the majority of PsA patients experienced a moderate impact on the quality of life as assessed by SF36 analysis, severe disease had major impact on their physical and emotional health status. The VICON gait analysis proved the statistical significant change (p < 0.05) on several gait parameters as compared to controls, including: decreased range of motion for flexion/extension of the lower limbs joins and lower cadence, decreased walking speed and step length. Statistically si gnificant correlations (Spearman, p < 0.05) between changes in PsA gait parameters and SF36 results, but no association with HAQ (p > 0.05) has been reported.

Conclusions: The PsA burden is related to both quality of life and functional impairment. Severe changes in gait parameters are essentially reflected in SF36 analysis.