Psoriatic arthritis screening tools: study design and methodologic challenges - reply from authors

Abstract

Funding sources: None. Conflicts of interest: None declared. Dear Editor, We thank Dr Qureshi et al. (‘Psoriatic arthritis screening tools: study design and methodologic challenges’)1 for their comments about our study [‘Comparison of three screening tools to detect psoriatic arthritis in patients with psoriasis (CONTEST study)’].2 The CONTEST study was carried out in dermatology clinics only. As they point out, there would be little point in administering these instruments in rheumatology clinics. The low response rate is disappointing, but reflects the likely response to the use of such tools in clinical practice. We would indicate that our sample size was almost fully achieved so the study had sufficient power to compare the three instruments. Unless Dr Qureshi et al. feel that the Psoriatic Arthritis Screening and Evaluation tool was specifically disadvantaged by the nonresponders, we can't see why the study failed to be a fair comparison of the three tools administered in the setting for which they were designed to work.