PEST and EARP Efficient for the Diagnosis of Juvenile Psoriatic Arthritis in Pediatric Patients With Psoriasis

Researchers found the Psoriasis Epidemiology Screening Tool (PEST) and the new Early Arthritis for Psoriatic Patients (EARP) questionnaires were efficient in diagnosing juvenile psoriatic arthritis (JPsA) in pediatric patients with psoriasis, according to a study published in Clinical Rheumatology.

The authors had 39 patients diagnosed with psoriasis complete the 2 questionnaires to compare the accuracy of these screening tools among pediatric patients with psoriasis. All patients were evaluated by a rheumatologist for JPsA.

They found that about 10% (4/39) of patients in the study diagnosed with JPsA had a PEST questionnaire score greater or equal to 3, compared to the PEST scores of the patients without the diagnosis of JPsA (0-2). For the EARP the authors noted, “[…] 8/39 patients had a screening questionnaire score of ≥ 3, suggestive of JPsA, four were true positive, and four false positive. Thus, the sensitivity and specificity of EARP in diagnosing JPsA were 100% and 89%, respectively.”

Researchers concluded that both the PEST and EARP questionnaires displayed high sensitivity for the diagnosis of JPsA and were easy to use in the pediatric population with psoriasis. However, they added that the PEST questionnaire had higher specificity than the EARP.

Reference
Gavra H, Tirosh I, Spielman S, et al. Validation of the psoriasis epidemiology screening tool (PEST) and the new early arthritis for psoriatic patients (EARP) in pediatric population: pilot study. Clin Rheumatol. Published online January 14, 2022. doi:10.1007/s10067-021-06009-7