The Psoriasis Epidemiology Screening Tool (PEST)

People living with skin manifestations of psoriatic disease may experience joint symptoms. There are many forms of arthritis that can present as symptoms in patients with psoriasis, but the non-rheumatologist may struggle to differentiate between PsA and other forms of arthritis. In general after first visit to the dermatologists one would be referred for follow up care to the general practitioner or other form of general specialists.

In general practitioners' and dermatology clinics, patients with psoriasis may complain about their joints, but it may be difficult to screen and diagnose Psoriatic Arthritis in this set-ups. As a result, a screening tool for PsA may be useful both for general practitioners and dermatologists to help identify patients who may need further evaluation by a rheumatologist.

There have been multiple tools launched for this purpose and this include ,ToPas(Toronto Psoriatic Arthritis Screening Questionnaire) , PASE (Psoriatic Arthritis Screening and Evaluation) and PEST (Psoriaisis Epidemiology Screening Tool) which have been developed for use in a secondary-care screning of population with psoriasis.

In 2009, the GRAPPA (Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis) organized an annual meeting in Stockholm, Sweden, during which the clinical experts described the development of the Psoriasis Epidemiology Screening Tool (PEST), which is used to identify psoriatic arthritis among patients with psoriasis.1.

The tool is useful for screening Psoriatic Arthritis among people living with Psoriasis.

Reference to the article

1. Psoriasis Epidemiology Screening Tool (PEST): A Report from the GRAPPA 2009 Annual MeetingPHILIP S. HELLIWELLThe Journal of Rheumatology Mar 2011, 38 (3) 551-552; DOI: 10.3899/jrheum.101119
2. Ibrahim GH, Buch MH, Lawson C, Waxman R, Helliwell PS. Evaluation of an existing screening tool for psoriatic arthritis in people with psoriasis and the development of a new instrument: the Psoriasis Epidemiology Screening Tool (PEST) questionnaire. Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2009 May-Jun;27(3):469-74. PMID: 19604440.