Ankylosing spondylitis functional and activity indices in clinical practice.

BACKGROUND

Clinicians have at hand several indices to evaluate disease activity and functionality in ankylosing spondylitis (AS), in order to evaluate the prognostic and the treatment of AS patients.

OBJECTIVES

to examine the relationship between functional and activity scores in AS; to note whether disease activity is associated with any clinical or laboratory variables.

METHODS

the study included AS patients, classified according to the revised New York criteria; data recorded: demographics, disease duration, type of articular involvement, HLA B27 presence, history of uveitis, calculation of BASFI, BASDAI and ASDASCRP, quantification of inflammation markers.

RESULTS

50 AS patients; ASDASCRP correlated significantly (p < 0.001) with BASFI (r = 811), BASDAI (r = 0.810) and with erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR; r = 0.505); HLA B27 positive patients had a median BASDAI 5 times higher than HLA B27 negative patients (p = 0.033); compared with patients with strictly axial disease form, patients with axial and peripheral disease had a median ESR 3 times higher (p = 0.042) and a median BASDAI 2 times higher (p = 0.050).

CONCLUSIONS

functional and activity AS indices are strongly correlated in assessing disease severity; inflammation and HLA B27 can predict the high value of these indices; axial and peripheral disease pattern is associated with higher disease activity.