Prologue: 2014 Annual Meeting of the Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis (GRAPPA)

Abstract

The 2014 Annual Meeting of the Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis (GRAPPA) was held in New York, New York, USA, and attended by rheumatologists, dermatologists, and representatives of biopharmaceutical companies and patient groups. Summaries of presentations at that meeting are introduced, including the GRAPPA-organized Fellows Symposium adjacent to the 2014 Swiss Psoriasis Day in Geneva. At the GRAPPA meeting itself, a Trainees Symposium was organized for rheumatology fellows and dermatology residents to present their research work; several patient research partners (PRP) organized Building Bridges, a session of interactive dialogue regarding the roles and responsibilities of PRP and researchers participating in working groups at GRAPPA and elsewhere; and 5 dermatology sessions were held to report on the international dermatology outcome measures group. Among the meeting topics were dermatologists’ management of psoriatic arthritis (PsA); the unmet need for a comprehensive assessment tool for psoriasis; the Psoriasis Symptom Inventory; and the importance of treat-to-target strategies for managing psoriasis. Other presentations included an update of GRAPPA’s research initiative to develop evidence-based criteria to identify inflammatory arthritis, enthesitis, dactylitis, and spondylitis; the utility of magnetic resonance imaging in PsA; a review of the PsA working group at OMERACT (Outcome Measures in Rheumatology); and updates on several GRAPPA educational projects. Considerable time was allotted to discussions of GRAPPA’s efforts to update its treatment guidelines for PsA.