Symposium Article
Epidemiology of Spondyloarthritis in Argentina

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Abstract

Introduction

Spondyloarthritis (SpA) includes a group of diseases that share immunogenetic, clinical and radiologic findings, with a particular involvement of the axial skeleton and the entheses.

Methods

SpA patients attending ambulatory care in 11 rheumatology services located in 6 Argentine provinces were included in a prospective, observational multicentre cohort of SpA in Argentina (Iberoamerican Spondyloarthritis Registry [RESPONDIA]). Data collected were transmitted online and stored in the Spanish spondyloarthritis registry (REGISPONSER) Web site. Sociodemographic, clinical features and diagnosis, disease activity, functional status, quality of life, work status, radiographic changes and treatment data were collected by means of validated tools.

Results

A total of 402 patients were included; 59% were male, with median age of 48.3 years and median disease duration of 8 years; 68.7% of patients belonged to middle and lower-middle social classes. Eighty-six patients were diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), 242 with psoriatic arthritis, 25 with reactive arthritis, 10 with SpA associated with inflammatory bowel disease, 33 with undifferentiated SpA and 6 with juvenile AS. The median score was 2.6 for the Bath AS Functional Index, 3.8 for the Bath AS Disease Activity Index and 5 for the Bath AS Radiology Index. The lower social class patients achieved a worse Bath AS Functional Index than other social classes and a worse Bath AS Disease Activity Index, compared with upper-middle class.

Conclusions

The sociodemographic distribution pattern observed in these SpA patients was similar to that expected in the general population of Argentina, with worse functional capacity and higher disease activity observed in the lower social classes.

Section snippets

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Consecutive patients with SpA attending ambulatory care between June and December 2006 in 11 rheumatology services located at 6 different Argentine provinces were enrolled. Patients were diagnosed in accordance to the classification criteria of the European Spondyloarthropathy Study Group1 and were included in a prospective, observational and multicentre cohort of SpA in Argentina (RESPONDIA-Argentina). Data were collected, transmitted online and stored in the Spanish SpA Registry Web site

RESULTS

General and sociodemographic features of the patients are provided in Table 1, Table 2. Of the 402 patients included in the study, 59% were men; the median age was 48.3 years (IQR: 38.3-58 years), and the median disease duration was 8 years (IQR: 4-14 years). Ethnicity was predominantly white (n = 285, 70.8%) or white-native (n = 92, 22.8%).

Patient diagnoses were as follows: 242 (60.2%) had PsA, 86 patients (21.4%) had AS, 33 (8.2%) had uSpA, 25 (6.2%) had ReA, 10 (2.5%) had SpA associated with

DISCUSSION

The data collected in this study show a predominance of patients with PsA and AS, with PsA, in this case, more frequent than AS; these results are opposite to prevalence reported in other series in which AS was predominant or in which prevalence was similar between both both groups.5., 8., 9.

It is important to emphasize the long period of diagnostic delay for AS and juvenile AS patients, probably due to the insidious and oligosymptomatic onset and initial course of the diseases, which may

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors gratefully acknowledge the important participation and contributions of the following RESPONDIA members in our study: Cesar Graf, MD, Centro Medico Mitre, Parana, Argentina; Alejandro Alvarellos, MD, Hospital Privado de Córdoba, Cordoba, Argentina; Romulo Wong, MD, Sanatorio Plaza, Rosario, Argentina; Sergio Paira, MD, Hospital J.M. Cullen, Santa Fe, Argentina; Gustavo Casado, MD, Hospital Militar Central, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Hugo Scherbarth, MD, H.I.G.A Dr. Oscar Alende, Mar

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This study was supported by Fundación Reumatologica Argentina.

Presented at the annual research and education meeting of Spondyloarthritis Research and Treatment Network (SPARTAN), July 23–24, 2010, Houston, Texas.

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