Nov 6, 2023
Initial review, focusing on the state-of-the-art literature and existing datasets in the field of PsA
Psoriatic arthritis is a chronic immune-mediated inflammatory arthritis occurring in patients with PsO. The disease manifestation can be heterogeneous between subjects, and the resulting musculoskeletal impairment can interfere with physical function as well as the quality of life of patients.
In a collaborative effort, the iPROLEPSIS partners completed an initial extensive review, focusing on the state-of-the-art literature and existing datasets in the field of PsA, with a special focus on flare dynamics. The primary goal was to enhance the understanding of PsA by investigating disease symptoms, factors associated with flares, and markers for disease development and monitoring.
The insights gained from the literature will provide background for various aspects of iPROLEPSIS research, such as investigating PsA inflammation drivers and monitoring, developing the iPROLEPSIS digital health ecosystem for personalised preventive care, and conducting clinical studies.
Moreover, various multi-source datasets have been identified that can potentially yield valuable information for the discovery of PsA inflammation drivers and the development of novel digital biomarkers and predictive models for disease monitoring and progression prognosis. The identified datasets will be assessed for relevancy and usability, retrieved, harmonised and curated. These datasets and predictive models will contribute to the research on PsA monitoring and inflammation drivers. In addition, the identified existing datasets will also guide the development of the Lifestyle AI-driven recommendation system and the Serious Games.
The key takeaways are:
Fatigue, pain and stiffness are commonly reported symptoms in PsA
Flare may be triggered by alterations in mood, stress, sleep, bowel movements, and environmental factors
Flare may affect mood, stress, sleep, bowel movements, physical activity and fine motor skills
Certain symptoms of PsA may also trigger or be triggered by flare
Clinical measurements of PsA symptoms and hypothesized flare associated factors, mainly include questionnaires
The use of smartphone and wearables to monitor physical activity (mainly through accelerometer data), fine motor skills (through keystroke dynamics), heart rate, heart rate variability have also shown potential to measure PsA symptoms and hypothesized flare associated factors
Electrography techniques can also be used in the assessment of certain symptoms and flare associated factors
Genetic factors may contribute to development of PsA, pain perception and response to treatment. Gut microbiome may be involved in PsA. MCs in skin are suggested to play a role in skin inflammation
Monitoring of PsA can be achieved through clinical examination for inflamed joints, enthesitis dactylitis, nail and skin and subsequent calculation of relative indices and composite scores
Imaging-based approaches including images obtained from smartphones and optoacoustics represent a complementary or alternative approach to clinical assessment
Data-driven models can serve to find predictive relations even when the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood or are too complex.
Recommendations and SGs present a potential approach to modify and improve diet and physical activity
Besides diet and physical activity, SGs can also address other aspects of disease, including medication adherence, social support, cognition, breathing, biological and neural function
OMOP CDM was opted to be used for standardising the datasets
Future steps include an update on state-of-the-art literature and measurement tools on the topics covered by initial research and the identification of new datasets that could be relevant for data-driven models.
