How Often Should You Screen Patients with Psoriasis for PsA? With Sikha Singla, MD

Following her presentation of a session titled. ‘Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis,’ Sikha Singla, MD, spoke in an interview with HCPLive at the 2025 Society of Dermatology Physician Associates (SDPA) Fall Conference in San Antonio, Texas.1,2

An associate professor of medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Singla participated in this talk as a co-presenter on this session regarding the overlap between treating psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis (PsA). In this segment of her interview, Singla highlighted the importance of screening for PsA every 6 months among patients with psoriasis.

“About 1/4 to 1/3 of psoriasis patients end up developing psoriatic arthritis, and it can take anywhere up to two to 10 years for patients to develop these diseases,” Singla explained. “It is so important for dermatologists to screen these patients for the development of joint disease. In fact, the National Psoriasis Foundation recommends screening psoriasis patients for psoriatic arthritis every six months, because it has been shown in studies that a delay of more than six months can lead to joint damage and affect the activities of daily living of our patients.”

Singla also discussed the need for collaboration between dermatologists and rheumatologists to prescribe the right medication, noting despite the various treatments available, about 50% of patients do not achieve a 70% improvement in their psoriatic disease symptoms.

“It is very important to have that collaboration with your dermatologist, with your rheumatologist, and to decide which is the most prominent feature that is bothering the patient so that the right medication can be prescribed for the patient,” Singa noted.

Later in her discussion with HCPLive, Singla highlighted the importance of recognizing red flags such as obesity, trauma, and environmental triggers.

“We definitely need more education about the treatment, and also the question arises that, if there is no response to the medications, is that truly due to an inflammatory component, or non-inflammatory components are also contributing, such as associated arthritis, which is osteoarthritis or fibromyalgia, or other diseases that are contributing to patient symptoms,” Singla added.

View the video interview segment above for any further information. To find out more about topics such as these presented at SDPA, view the latest conference coverage.

The quotes used in this video summary were edited for clarity.

Singla had no relevant financial disclosures to include.

References

1. Singla S, Gordon K. Psoriasis & Psoriatic Arthritis. Presented at the Society of Dermatology Physician Associates (SDPA) Fall Conference, November 5-9, San Antonio, TX.

2. Singla S. How to Differentiate Other Forms of Arthritis and Psoriatic Arthritis, With Shikha Singla, MD. HCPLive. November 7, 2025. https://www.hcplive.com/view/how-to-differentiate-other-forms-arthritis-psoriatic-arthritis-sikha-singla-md.