Ankylosing Spondylitis Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Ankylosing Spondylitis, including details on diagnosis, treatment, symptoms, causes.

ASDAS, a highly discriminatory ASAS-endorsed disease activity score in patients with ankylosing spondylitis.

van der Heijde D, Lie E, Kvien TK, Sieper J, Van den Bosch F, Listing J, Braun J, Landewé R,

Department of Rheumatology, Leiden University Medical Center, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands. d.vanderheijde@kpnplanet.nl

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate various validity aspects of four disease activity scores (ASDAS) for ankylosing spondylitis (AS) in comparison with the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI), its individual components and physician and patient global assessment of disease activity. METHODS: The analyses were performed in two cohorts of patients with AS: (1) the NOR-DMARD database which includes patients starting on a disease-modifying antirheumatic drug or tumour necrosis factor (TNF) blocker and (2) patients participating in double-blind placebo controlled randomised clinical trials with TNF blockers in four centres. Discrimination between patients with low versus high disease activity according to various definitions and between various levels of change were analysed as the standardised mean difference (difference in the group means divided by the pooled SD of the group means) and t score. RESULTS: The four ASDAS versions were highly discriminatory in differentiating patients with different levels of disease activity and patients with different levels of change. The ASDAS scores outperformed the BASDAI and its single components in all settings: patient- or physician-based, reflecting status or change, with normal or raised C-reactive protein (CRP), in the presence or absence of peripheral arthritis. There were no major differences between the four ASDAS scores. Based on feasibility, the ASAS membership selected the ASDAS version which included back pain, duration of morning stiffness, patient global assessment, peripheral joint complaints and CRP as the preferred version. CONCLUSIONS: The ASDAS is a validated, highly discriminatory instrument for assessing disease activity in AS, including patient-reported outcomes and CRP levels.

Published 13 November 2009 in Ann Rheum Dis, 68(12): 1811-8.
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Articles on Ankylosing Spondylitis published 13 November 2009:

Ankylosing spondylitis and the risk of fracture: results from a large primary care-based nested case-control study.   Ann Rheum Dis, 68(12): 1839-42.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is associated with bone loss in the vertebrae and an increased prevalence of vertebral fractures, but literature about the magnitude of the risk of fracturing is limited. One retrospective cohort study provided evidence of an increased risk of clinical vertebral fractures but not of non-vertebral fractures. This study further explores the risk of clinical vertebral and non-vertebral fractures in a large population database. METHODS: In a primary ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Ankylosing Spondylitis published 13 October 2009:

Comparison of the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index and a modified version of the index in assessing disease activity in patients with ankylosing spondylitis without peripheral manifestations.   Ann Rheum Dis, 68(11): 1701-7.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the original Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) with a modified BASDAI without questions about peripheral arthritis (question 3) and enthesitis (question 4), here termed the mini-BASDAI, as an instrument to assess disease activity in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) without peripheral manifestations. METHODS: The mini-BASDAI was calculated by omitting questions 3 and 4. The correlation of the original BASDAI and the mini-BASDAI with ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Genetic polymorphisms of the matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3) and tissue inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinases-1 (TIMP-1) modulate the development of ankylosing spondylitis.   Ann Rheum Dis, 68(11): 1781-6.

BACKGROUND: The aetiology of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) remains unclear. Inflammation progresses to fibrosis and calcification of the spine and sacroiliac joints in AS development. Fibrosis results from excessive accumulations of the extracellular matrix (ECM). ECM turnover depends on the balance between matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their tissue inhibitors (TIMPs). OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of the MMP-3 -1171 and TIMP-1 372 T>C polymorphisms on the modified risk of AS. ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Ankylosing Spondylitis published 21 September 2009:

Magnetic resonance imaging assessment of spinal inflammation in ankylosing spondylitis: standard clinical protocols may omit inflammatory lesions in thoracic vertebrae.   Arthritis Rheum, 61(9): 1187-93.

OBJECTIVE: Radiologic assessment of spinal inflammation in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) relies primarily on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), although little is known about the distribution of inflammatory lesions within the structures of the spine. Our objective was to compare the distribution of inflammatory lesions centrally and laterally within the thoracic and lumbar spine vertebral bodies. METHODS: We studied 49 patients with AS who were scanned with STIR and T1-weighted ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Ankylosing Spondylitis published 17 September 2009:

Ankylosing spondylitis susceptibility and severity--contribution of TNF gene promoter polymorphisms at positions -238 and -308.   Ann N Y Acad Sci, 1173: 581-8.

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory disease in which genetic factors play a central role. The efficacy of TNF blockers has reoriented research in this field in order to explain the influence of TNF in AS pathogenesis. The objective of this study was to access the influence of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at positions -308 and -238 of the promoter region of TNF gene on AS susceptibility and prognosis. SNPs were determined by restriction fragment length polymorphisms ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

HLA-B27 and HLA-B51 determination in Tunisian healthy subjects and patients with suspected ankylosing spondylitis and Behçet's disease.   Ann N Y Acad Sci, 1173: 564-9.

The aim of this retrospective study is to assess the frequency of HLA-B27 and HLA-B51 in healthy subjects from the center of Tunisia and to investigate their usefulness in the diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and Behçet's disease (BD), respectively. Microlymphocytotoxicity test was used to perform serologic HLA typing in a group of 124 healthy volunteers and a group of 365 patients suffering from clinical manifestations of AS and/or BD. HLA-B27 was found in 3.2% of healthy subjects and ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Ankylosing Spondylitis published 16 September 2009:

Reproducibility of performance measures of physical function based on the BASFI, in ankylosing spondylitis.   Rheumatology (Oxford), 48(10): 1254-60.

OBJECTIVE: To establish the test-retest reproducibility of performance measures of physical function based on the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI) questionnaire in patients with AS. METHODS: Data were obtained from 65 AS patients. They were tested on two occasions by one assessor with a 1-week interval. Physical function was assessed via eight performance measures based on items used in the BASFI questionnaire, representing activities of daily life, which AS patients ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Ankylosing Spondylitis published 14 September 2009:

Ankylosing spondylitis monocytes show upregulation of proteins involved in inflammation and the ubiquitin proteasome pathway.   Ann Rheum Dis, 68(10): 1626-32.

OBJECTIVES: To determine if peripheral blood monocytes from patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) differed in protein expression compared to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and healthy controls (HC). METHODS: Monocyte protein expression was characterised by 2D gel electrophoresis and by label-free quantitative expression profiling, using nano-ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (ESI-MS(E), where (E) refers to low/high collision energy ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

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