Key clinical point: Pain alleviation by tofacitinib in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) was mostly due to improvement in itch, enthesitis, and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels.
Major finding : Tofacitinib predominantly reduced pain indirectly (70.5%; P < .0001), as indicated by improvements in the Itch Severity Item score (37.4%; P = .0002), Leeds Enthesitis Index score (17.8%; P = .0157), and CRP levels (15.3%; P = .0107).
Study details : Findings are from a mediation analysis of pooled data from 2 phase 3 studies ( OPAL Broaden and OPAL Beyond ) including 474 patients with active PsA who received tofacitinib 5 mg twice daily or placebo.
Disclosures: This study was funded by Pfizer Inc. Four authors declared being employees and shareholders of Pfizer, and the other authors reported ties with several sources.
Source: de Vlam K et al. Identifying and quantifying the role of inflammation in pain reduction for patients with psoriatic arthritis treated with tofacitinib: A mediation analysis. Rheumatol Ther. 2022;9(5):1451-1464 (Sep 8). Doi: 10.1007/s40744-022-00482-5.