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BMC Rheumatol 2022 May 25;6(1):29. Epub 2022 May 25.

Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Rheumatology, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.

Background: There is increasing knowledge of how individual lifestyle factors affect patients with spondyloarthritis, while studies exploring the combination of unhealthy lifestyle factors are lacking. Thus, our aim was to study the frequency of two or more unhealthy lifestyle factors and their associations with physical and mental health in patients with spondyloarthritis (SpA).

Methods: A population-based postal survey involving questions on lifestyle factors was completed by 1793 patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and undifferentiated spondyloarthritis (USpA). Read More

Rheum Dis Clin North Am 2022 05;48(2):507-521

Rheumatology Research, Swedish Medical Center/Providence St. Joseph Health, Seattle, WA, USA; University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA. Electronic address:

Spondyloarthritis is a common rheumatologic disease, present in up to 2% of the population, characterized by inflammatory arthritis, often with enthesitis, dactylitis, spondylitis, and skin disease. It has historically been characterized as ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, arthritis associated with inflammatory bowel disease, reactive arthritis, and undifferentiated spondyloarthritis. These subsets are now classified as axial-predominant and peripheral-predominant spondyloarthritis. Read More

Rev Med Chil 2021 Oct;149(10):1423-1429

Department of Internal Medicine, Ankara City Hospital, Yildirim Beyazit University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.

Background: The terms Spondyloarthritis and spondyloarthropathy (Spa) are used to define a group of diseases with related clinical characteristics and genetics.

Aim: To report the clinical and demographic characteristics of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and undifferentiated spondyloarthritis (USpA) and to evaluate the frequency of cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody (anti-CCP) positivity.

Material And Methods: Two hundred patients with USpA or AS, 100 control patients with a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and 100 healthy volunteers were included. Read More

Reumatol Clin (Engl Ed) 2022 Feb;18(2):69-76

Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social sciences, Department Psychology, Health and Technology, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands.

Objectives: There is cumulative evidence in the literature supporting a potential role of faecal calprotectin (FCP) as a biomarker for gut inflammation in spondyloarthritis (SpA). However its relevance in undifferentiated SpA (USpA) is still uncertain. The aim of the current study is to assess the diagnostic significance of FCP levels in patients with differentiated and undifferentiated SpA. Read More

Psychiatr Danub 2021 Spring-Summer;33(Suppl 4):625-631

University Hospital Centre Zagreb, Department of Rheumatology and Rehabilitation, Kišpatićeva 12, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia,

Background: Early diagnosis is the key to successful treatment of inflammatory rheumatic diseases and the use of conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (csDMARD) and biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARD) or biologics have substantially contributed to better disease control. Biological drugs have been approved for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), juvenile arthritis (JIA), ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA).

Subjects And Methods: The study involved 79 adult patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS), psoriatic arthritis (PsA) or undifferentiated spondyloarthropathy (USpA) - the last three clinical entities belong to a common group called spondyloarthropathies (SpA); receiving anti-TNF therapy at the department of Rheumatology and Rehabilitation, Clinical Hospital Center Zagreb. Read More

Rheumatology (Oxford) 2021 12;61(1):e32

Institute of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.

Turk J Med Sci 2021 Apr 12. Epub 2021 Apr 12.

Aim: Seronegative spondyloarthropathies (SpA) are a group of chronic diseases, characterized by axial inflammation, oligoarthritis, and enthesitis. Oxidative stress may contribute to a wide range of diseases such as rheumatologic diseases including SpA. This prospective case-control study was designed to compare the thiol-disulfide levels as a marker of oxidative stress in SpA patients with healthy controls. Read More

Scand J Rheumatol 2022 Jan 23;51(1):10-20. Epub 2021 Mar 23.

Clinical Epidemiology Division, Department of Medicine, Solna, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.

: To determine whether a family history of spondyloarthritis (SpA) is associated with clinical presentation at the start of tumour necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) treatment, or predictive of TNFi drug survival and treatment response in patients with SpA.: Family history of SpA in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and undifferentiated SpA (uSpA) from the Swedish Rheumatology Quality register starting a TNFi as their first biologic in 2006-2018 was assessed through national registers. Clinical characteristics at treatment start were compared by family history status. Read More

Immunol Invest 2022 May 10;51(4):1095-1107. Epub 2021 Feb 10.

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China.

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia contributing to stroke and sudden cardiac death. Numbers of studies indicated that patients with inflammatory arthritis have an increased risk of AF. The present study aims to assess the risk of AF in inflammatory arthritis patients. Read More

Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken) 2022 05 8;74(5):748-758. Epub 2022 Mar 8.

Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.

Objective: To describe baseline characteristics and to compare treatment effectiveness of secukinumab versus tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi) in patients with spondyloarthritis (SpA) using adalimumab as the main comparator.

Methods: This was an observational, prospective cohort study. Patients with SpA (clinical ankylosing spondylitis, nonradiographic axial SpA, or undifferentiated SpA) starting secukinumab or a TNFi during 2015-2018 were identified from 5 Nordic clinical rheumatology registries. Read More

Rheumatology (Oxford) 2021 06;60(6):2725-2734

Department of Rheumatology and Inflammation Research, Institute of Medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.

Objectives: To estimate the incidence and strength of association of extra-articular manifestations [EAMs, here: anterior uveitis (AU), IBD and psoriasis] in patients with AS, undifferentiated SpA (uSpA) and PsA, compared with controls.

Methods: Three mutually exclusive cohorts of patients aged 18-69 years with AS (n = 8517), uSpA (n = 10 245) and PsA (n = 22 667) were identified in the Swedish National Patient Register 2001-2015. Age-, sex- and geography-matched controls were identified from the Swedish Population Register. Read More

Biomolecules 2020 10 20;10(10). Epub 2020 Oct 20.

Department of Biology, School of Sciences and Humanities, Nazarbayev University, Nur-Sultan 010000, Kazakhstan.

Spondyloarthritis comprises a group of inflammatory diseases of the joints and spine, with various clinical manifestations. The group includes ankylosing spondylitis, reactive arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, arthritis associated with inflammatory bowel disease, and undifferentiated spondyloarthritis. The exact etiology and pathogenesis of spondyloarthritis are still unknown, but five hypotheses explaining the pathogenesis exist. Read More

Musculoskeletal Care 2021 06 18;19(2):158-164. Epub 2020 Sep 18.

College of Health and Biomedicine, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia.

Background And Purpose: This study explored the psychological impact of living with chronic pain as a result of ankylosing spondylitis or undifferentiated spondyloarthritis. The aim was to investigate individual's current pain experience and their current psychological state.

Methods: A total of 161 individuals who had a clinical diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis or undifferentiated spondyloarthritis participated in an online survey. Read More

Clin Exp Rheumatol 2021 May-Jun;39(3):660-667. Epub 2020 Sep 4.

Division of Rheumatology, University of Ioannina Medical School, Greece.

Objectives: Several epidemiologic studies of spondylarthritis (SpA) and its subtypes have been reported during the last decades. The majority of these studies provided prevalence estimates and showed a considerable variation in the reported frequency of SpA subtypes. Most systematic reviews published in this field aimed to summarise the results of prevalence studies, however, incidence studies are important for an accurate picture of a disease occurrence in a defined population. Read More

RMD Open 2020 08;6(2)

Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Western University, London, Canada

Objectives: This meta-analysis investigated the frequency of ocular involvement in childhood and adult spondyloarthritis (SpA).

Methods: A systematic review of the literature was conducted. Medline, Web of Science and Cochrane databases were searched upto October 2018 identifying publications related to SpA, including ankylosing spondylitis (AS) with ocular conditions (OC) (uveitis, iritis, retinitis, chorioretinitis and other ocular involvement). Read More

Clin Rheumatol 2020 Nov 27;39(11):3195-3204. Epub 2020 Aug 27.

Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Immuno-Endocrine Section of Internal Medicine, Laboratory of Primary Human Cells, School of Medicine, University of Pisa, Via Savi, 10, I-56126, Pisa, Italy.

Introduction: Covid-19 infection poses a serious challenge for immune-compromised patients with inflammatory autoimmune systemic diseases. We investigated the clinical-epidemiological findings of 1641 autoimmune systemic disease Italian patients during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Method: This observational multicenter study included 1641 unselected patients with autoimmune systemic diseases from three Italian geographical areas with different prevalence of Covid-19 [high in north (Emilia Romagna), medium in central (Tuscany), and low in south (Calabria)] by means of telephone 6-week survey. Read More

Rheum Dis Clin North Am 2020 05;46(2):193-206

Division of Rheumatology, Inflammation and Immunity, Brigham and Women's Hospital, HBTM, Room 06002P, 60 Fenwood Road, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Electronic address:

Scientific breakthroughs have culminated in the development of the spondyloarthritis (SpA) concept as a family of rheumatic diseases, distinct from rheumatoid arthritis. The demonstration of inflammatory lesions in the sacroiliac joints and spine of patients with axial symptoms of SpA who lacked radiographic features of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) helped refine the SpA concept. Axial SpA includes patients with AS and patients with axial symptoms previously categorized as undifferentiated SpA. Read More

Clin Rheumatol 2020 Aug 27;39(8):2299-2306. Epub 2020 Feb 27.

Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, University Hospital Centre Split, Split, Croatia.

Objective: To investigate possible association between sacroiliitis and HLA-B*35 positivity.

Method: After excluding patients with axial spondyloarthritis and HLA-B*27 positivity, psoriasis inflammatory bowel disease, preceding infections, or juvenile type of spondyloarthritis, 110 patients were recruited with a diagnosis of undifferentiated axial spondyloarthritis. All of them had inflammatory back pain of short duration (3 months to 2 years) and 72 were HLA-B*35 positive. Read More

Rheumatol Int 2020 Mar 4;40(3):359-366. Epub 2019 Dec 4.

Department of Hepatology and Gastroenterology, Aarhus University Hospital, Palle Juul-Jensens Boulevard 99, 8200, Aarhus N, Denmark.

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and undifferentiated spondylarthritis (uSpA) are related inflammatory diseases affecting the spine and joints with infections among possible etiological factors. Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) may affect the development of inflammatory diseases. Read More

Rheumatol Int 2019 Sep 24;39(9):1607-1614. Epub 2019 Jul 24.

Divison of Rheumatology, Rush University Medical Center, 1161 West Harrison Street, Suite 510, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA.

Uveitis may represent an opportunity to diagnose spondyloarthropathies (SpA) earlier and influence treatment decisions. We describe the percentage of acute anterior uveitis (AAU) in a diverse group of SpA patients seen at one academic setting and compare demographic and clinical characteristics according to the presence of uveitis. We conducted a retrospective study of patients with SpA and AAU (January 2016-June 2017). Read More

Clin Exp Rheumatol 2019 Jul-Aug;37(4):649-655. Epub 2019 Feb 11.

Rheumatology Unit, University of Bari, Italy.

Objectives: To determine the incidence of serious infections (SIs) among the spondyloarthropathy (SpA) patients from the "Gruppo Italiano per lo Studio delle Early Arthritis" (GISEA) registry and treated with tumour necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors (TNFIs), and to identify the factors associated with the development of the infections.

Methods: This observational study on 3321 GISEA-registered SpA patients collected real-world demographic and clinical data relating to their biological drug treatments. The overall incidence of infections was analysed by type of SpA. Read More

Best Pract Res Clin Rheumatol 2017 12 25;31(6):846-862. Epub 2018 Oct 25.

Oxford Eye Hospital, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headley Way, Oxford, United Kingdom. Electronic address:

Uveitis is a frequently occurring extra-articular manifestation of spondyloarthropathies (SpAs), ankylosing spondylitis (AS), reactive arthritis (ReA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), occurring in both adults and children with SpA. Uveitis occurs with varying frequency according to the SpA subtype (33% in AS, 6-9% in PsA, 25% in ReA, 13% in undifferentiated SpA and 2-5% in IBD), the presence of HLA-B27 and with increasing duration of disease. The majority of cases of uveitis in SpA are attributed to acute anterior uveitis but a minority of uveitis cases occur in the posterior segment of the eye. Read More

Z Rheumatol 2019 Feb;78(1):31-42

Rheumazentrum Ruhrgebiet, Claudiusstr 45, 44649, Herne, Deutschland.

The classification of axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) comprises the classical ankylosing spondylitis (AS), which is characterized by already existing structural changes in the sacroiliac joints, and the so-called non-radiographic axSpA (nr-axSpA), in which by definition such changes are not present. This distinction is based on the ASAS classification criteria for axSpA, which are however not suitable for a diagnosis. According to the current classification, spondyloarthritis (SpA) includes axSpA, which can be associated with psoriasis and/or chronic inflammatory bowel diseases (CED), such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, and peripheral SpA, which is further divided into SpA associated with psoriasis, partially synonymous with psoriatic arthritis (PsA), reactive SpA, partially synonymous with reactive arthritis (ReA) and SpA associated with CED, partially synonymous with arthritis associated with CED (e. Read More

J Proteome Res 2019 01 30;18(1):130-146. Epub 2018 Oct 30.

Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University , Lucknow 226025 , India.

Reactive arthritis (ReA) is a member of seronegative spondyloarthropathy (SSA), which involves an acute/subacute onset of asymmetrical lower limb joint inflammation weeks after a genitourinary/gastrointestinal infection. The diagnosis is clinical because it is difficult to culture the microbes from synovial fluid. Arthritis patients with a similar clinical picture but lapsed history of an immediate preceding infection that do not fulfill the diagnostic criteria of other members of SSA, such as ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, and arthritis associated with inflammatory bowel disease, are labeled as peripheral undifferentiated spondyloarthropathy (uSpA). Read More

Rom J Ophthalmol 2018 Apr-Jun;62(2):114-122

Department of Ophthalmology, University Emergency Hospital, Bucharest, Romania.

Spondyloarthritis (SpA) is a heterogeneous group of diseases that includes ankylosing spondylitis (AS), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), reactive arthritis (ReA), inflammatory bowel disease-associated spondyloarthritis (IBD-SpA), and undifferentiated spondyloarthritis (unSpA). This group of diseases shares several clinical, imaging, and genetic features; the integration of these diseases in the group of SpA is needed for an early diagnosis and a prompt treatment. Uveitis is the most common extra-articular manifestation of SpA. Read More

Curr Opin Ophthalmol 2018 Nov;29(6):552-557

Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, Medical College of Wisconsin Eye Institute, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.

Purpose Of Review: The seronegative spondyloarthropathies are a closely related group of inflammatory diseases that include ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, reactive arthritis, enteropathic arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and undifferentiated spondyloarthritis. This review focuses on the spectrum of ocular manifestations associated with these diseases and the current approaches in treating these ocular manifestations. It also highlights the role ophthalmologists can play in identifying and appropriately treating human leukocyte antigen B27 (HLA-B27) associated uveitis and the associated spondyloarthropathies in order to limit ocular and systemic morbidity. Read More

J Rheumatol 2018 06 1;45(6):785-794. Epub 2018 Apr 1.

From the Rheumatology, Clinical Immunology and Allergy Department, Medical School, University of Crete, Heraklion; Rheumatology Clinic, Department of Internal Medicine, Medical School, University of Ioannina, Ioannina; Rheumatology Department, Sismanoglio Hospital; Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Harokopio University of Athens; Department of Rheumatology, Veterans Administration Hospital; Joint Academic Rheumatology Program, Faculty of Medicine, National and Kapodestrian University of Athens; Fourth Internal Medicine Department, Attikon University Hospital of Athens, Athens; Rheumatology Clinic, General Hospital of Kavala, Kavala; First Department of Internal Medicine, Rheumatology Section, AHEPA Hospital of the Aristotle University Medical School; Rheumatology Department, 424 General Army Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece; Department of Rheumatology, Skȧne University Hospital, Lund, Sweden.

Objective: To evaluate the 10-year drug survival of the first tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) administered to patients with spondyloarthritis (SpA) overall and comparatively between SpA subsets, and to identify predictors of drug retention.

Methods: Patients with SpA in the Hellenic Registry of Biologic Therapies, a prospective multicenter observational cohort, starting their first TNFi between 2004-2014 were analyzed. Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox regression models were used. Read More

Scand J Immunol 2018 May;87(5):e12663

Research Center for Immunodeficiencies, Children's Medical Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) is the most prevalent symptomatic type of human primary immunodeficiency diseases (PID). Clinically, CVID is characterized by increased susceptibility to infections and a wide variety of autoimmune and rheumatologic disorders. All patients with CVID registered in Iranian PID Registry (IPIDR) were enrolled in this retrospective cohort study. Read More

Wiad Lek 2018;71(1 pt 1):10-16

Katedra i Klinika Reumatologii i Układowych Chorób Tkanki Łącznej, Uniwersytet Medyczny, Lublin, Polska.

Objective: Introduction: Radiosynoviorthesis (RS) is local method of treatment of remittent joint effusions among patients who obtained general improvement after disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs therapy but one or a few joints stay resistant to this treatment and intraarticular corticosteroids injections. The aim: The attempt to identification methods of efficacy assessment of the 90yttrium knee joint RS.

Patients And Methods: Material and methods: The study group consisted of 43 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and 19 patients with inflammatory spondyloarthropaties (SPA) where 8 patients were treated for ankylosing spondylitis (AS), 4 for psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and 7 due to undifferentiated inflammatory spondyloarthropaties (USPA). Read More

Clin Exp Rheumatol 2018 Jan-Feb;36(1):1-14. Epub 2018 Feb 5.

GenOMeC PhD, University of Siena; and Rheumatology Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Italy.

The term spondyloarthritis (SpA) represents a condition characterised by a broad spectrum of clinical manifestations, laboratory abnormalities and imaging features; in particular, SpA is an inflammatory condition in which both peripheral and axial joints might be affected. The majority of people with this disease have either psoriatic arthritis or axial spondyloarthritis, which includes ankylosing spondylitis. Less common subgroups are enteropathic SpA, which is associated with inflammatory bowel diseases (Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis), reactive arthritis, which can occur in people following gastrointestinal or genitourinary infections and undifferentiated SpA, that does not meet the diagnostic criteria of the other subgroups at onset, but that may evolve to do so later. Read More