RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Sexual quality of life in patients with axial spondyloarthritis in the biologic treatment era
JF The Journal of Rheumatology
JO J Rheumatol
FD The Journal of Rheumatology
SP jrheum.180413
DO 10.3899/jrheum.180413
A1 Berg, Kari Hansen
A1 Rohde, Gudrun
A1 Prøven, Anne
A1 Pirelli Benestad, Esben Esther
A1 Østensen, Monika
A1 Haugeberg, Glenn
YR 2019
UL http://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2019/02/12/jrheum.180413.abstract
AB Objective To explore the relationship between demographic, disease related variables, treatment and sexual quality of life (SQOL) in men and women with Axial Spondyloarthritis (ax-SpA). Methods Ax-SpA patients were consecutively recruited from two rheumatology outpatient clinics in Sothern Norway. A broad specter of demographic, disease, treatment and quality of life data were systematically collected. SQOL was assessed using the SQOL-F questionnaire (score range 18-108). Appropriate statistical tests were applied for group comparison and the association between independent variables and SQOL-F was explored using multiple linear regression analysis. Results A total of 360 (240 men, 120 women) ax-SpA patients with mean age 45.5 years and disease duration 13.9 years were included. Seventy-eight percent were married/cohabiting, 26.7% were current smokers, 71.0% were employed, 86.0% performed > 1-hour exercise per week and 88.0% were HLAB27 positive. Mean (SD) values for disease measures were: Creactive protein (CRP) 8.5 (12.1) mg/L, BASDAI 3.1 (2.1), BAS-G 3.8 (2.5), BASFI 2.7 (2.2) and HAQ 0.6 (0.5). The proportion of patients using nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs was 44.0%, synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) 5.0% and biologic DMARDs 24.0%. Mean (SD) total sum score for SQOL was 76.6 (10.9). In multivariate analysis female gender, increased BMI, measures reflecting disease activity (BAS-G and CRP) and current biologic treatment were independently associated with a lower SQOL. Conclusion Our data suggest that inflammation in ax-SpA patients even in the biologic treatment era has a negative impact on SQOL.