Deucravacitinib Improves Fatigue and Quality of Life in Psoriatic Arthritis, Phase 3 Pooled Analysis Shows
A pooled analysis of phase 3 POETYK PsA trials demonstrates that deucravacitinib significantly improves fatigue and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with active psoriatic arthritis (PsA), addressing key aspects of disease burden beyond clinical symptoms.
“PsA is a heterogeneous immune-mediated inflammatory disease where patients experience pain, loss of physical function, joint damage, significant impairments in social and emotional well-being, and a negative overall impact on HRQoL,” the investigators noted. This study evaluated the effect of deucravacitinib, a selective TYK2 inhibitor, on patient-reported outcomes.
Data were pooled from 2 randomized phase 3 trials (POETYK PsA-1 and PsA-2), including patients treated through week 16. Outcomes focused on fatigue (FACIT-Fatigue) and HRQoL using the SF-36, which measures physical, mental, and social functioning.
Deucravacitinib demonstrated significant improvements across all evaluated domains. Patients receiving deucravacitinib experienced greater mean improvements in FACIT-Fatigue scores compared with placebo (mean difference 1.7; P<0.0001), along with significant gains in SF-36 physical (PCS), mental (MCS), and all 8 individual domains.
Clinically meaningful improvements were also more frequent with active treatment. A higher proportion of patients achieved minimal clinically important differences in fatigue (44.3% vs 35.8%; P=0.0016), physical functioning (62.2% vs 52.8%; P=0.0006), and mental functioning (41.4% vs 32.8%; P=0.0015), as well as across all SF-36 domains.
“Patients with active PsA treated with deucravacitinib reported significantly greater reduction in fatigue as measured by the FACIT-Fatigue scale compared with those receiving placebo. Similarly, treatment with deucravacitinib led to significantly greater improvements than placebo across multiple aspects of HRQoL, including physical, social, and mental functioning as measured by SF-36 PCS, MCS, and all 8 domain scores,” the authors concluded. “A significantly higher proportion of patients reported clinically meaningful improvements in fatigue and physical functioning with deucravacitinib treatment than with placebo. These data suggest that deucravacitinib has the potential to effectively address the high disease burden in patients with PsA by improving fatigue and overall HRQoL.”
These findings underscore the importance of targeting patient-reported outcomes in PsA and position deucravacitinib as a therapy that can meaningfully improve daily functioning and overall well-being.
Reference
Gottlieb AB, Mease PJ, Deodhar A, et al. The impact of deucravacitinib on fatigue and health-related quality of life in patients with psoriatic arthritis: pooled analysis of phase 3 trials in patients with active psoriatic arthritis. Presented at: American Academy of Dermatology Annual Meeting; March 27–31, 2026; Denver, Colorado.
