There also may be a warm feeling in the joints when they are actively inflamed. Patients also will complain of pain and swelling in the toes. Some patients may have involvement that is a mirror image on each side of the body which is similar to what is seen in rheumatoid arthritis, but more commonly there is asymmetric involvement of the joints. Patients may complain of pain and stiffness in the neck and low back if they have spinal involvement present. There may be a positive family history of psoriasis in other members of the family.
Men tend to have a worse form of the disease than women.
More patients develop involvement of their peripheral joints in the extremities than arthritic problems in the spine. Patient may complain of low back pain which may involve their sacroiliac joints, once again in an asymmetric fashion. In one out of five patients, the arthritis may actually precede the skin involvement with psoriasis itself and this may make the diagnosis more difficult to make at that point in time. Like other forms of inflammatory arthritis, patients may note morning stiffness which can last greater than one hour and even persist throughout the day. All peripheral joints are susceptible to psoriatic arthritis along with the entire spine.