Ankylosing spondylitisFactors Associated with Radiographic Spinal Involvement and Hip Involvement in Ankylosing Spondylitis
Section snippets
Patients and Clinical Assessments
We consecutively enrolled 531 patients from our rheumatology outpatient clinics. All patients had a complete set of radiographs and met the 1984 modified New York criteria for definite AS (2). For each patient, we recorded age, gender, age at disease onset, disease duration, main features, the presence of HLA-B27 antigen, and treatment. No biological agents had been used in these patients. The main features were reviewed retrospectively by clinical history and/or medical records; features
Characteristics of Patients Based on the Different Types of Radiographically Seen Damage in the Spine
Table 1 describes the disease-related characteristics of the AS patients according to the radiographic involvement in the spine. Ninety-eight (18.5%) patients had spinal involvement with fusion, 142 (26.7%) had spinal involvement without fusion, and 291 (54.8%) had no spinal involvement, using the mSASSS definition. Patients with spinal abnormalities on radiography were more frequently male and were more likely to have hip disease, an enthesitis history, and a reduced ability to exercise. No
Discussion
In this study, we investigated the factors associated with radiographic evidence of spinal fusion and hip involvement in patients with AS. Radiographic imaging is an objective measurement to assess disease severity and outcome. It was not surprising that disease duration was an important factor associated with spinal fusion. An elevated CRP level, advanced radiographic sacroiliitis, and hip involvement were the predictors for development of spinal fusion, and the former 2 were also the
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the participants and staff who contributed to the study.
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Cited by (0)
This study was funded by the National Science Council of Taiwan and Taipei Veterans General Hospital.
The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.