Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Mar 15;7(1):78-83.
Epub 2014 Mar 25.

Ankylosing spondylitis functional and activity indices in clinical practice

C Popescu  1 , M Trandafir  2 , Am Bădică  2 , F Morar  2 , D Predeţeanu  1
Affiliations

Ankylosing spondylitis functional and activity indices in clinical practice

C Popescu et al. J Med Life. .

Abstract

Background: Clinicians have at hand several indices to evaluate disease activity and functionality in ankylosing spondylitis (AS), in order to evaluate the prognostic and the treatment of AS patients.

Objectives: to examine the relationship between functional and activity scores in AS; to note whether disease activity is associated with any clinical or laboratory variables.

Methods: the study included AS patients, classified according to the revised New York criteria; data recorded: demographics, disease duration, type of articular involvement, HLA B27 presence, history of uveitis, calculation of BASFI, BASDAI and ASDASCRP, quantification of inflammation markers.

Results: 50 AS patients; ASDASCRP correlated significantly (p < 0.001) with BASFI (r = 811), BASDAI (r = 0.810) and with erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR; r = 0.505); HLA B27 positive patients had a median BASDAI 5 times higher than HLA B27 negative patients (p = 0.033); compared with patients with strictly axial disease form, patients with axial and peripheral disease had a median ESR 3 times higher (p = 0.042) and a median BASDAI 2 times higher (p = 0.050).

Conclusions: functional and activity AS indices are strongly correlated in assessing disease severity; inflammation and HLA B27 can predict the high value of these indices; axial and peripheral disease pattern is associated with higher disease activity.

Keywords: ASDAS; BASDAI; BASFI; ankylosing spondylitis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Table 1
Table 1
Group’s general characteristics (n = 50)
Table 2
Table 2
Spearman correlations of the three indices
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Scatter plots with ASDASCRP correlation with BASFI (panel A) and BASDAI (panel B), using cubically fitted trend lines
Table 3
Table 3
Simple linear regression of functional and activity indices
Table 4
Table 4
Comparison between functional and disease activity subgroups
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Distribution of values according to BASDAI and BASFI subgroups
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Dougados M, van der LS. The European Spondylarthropathy Study Group preliminary criteria for the classification of spondylarthropathy. Arthritis Rheum. 1991;34:1218–1227. - PubMed
    1. Ward MM. Functional disability predicts total costs in patients with ankylosing spondylitis. Arthritis Rheum. 2002;46:223–231. - PubMed
    1. Boonen A, Chorus A. Employment, work disability, and work days lost in patients with ankylosing spondylitis: a cross sectional study of Dutch patients. Ann Rheum Dis. 2001;60:353–358. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Calin A, Garrett S. A new approach to defining functional ability in ankylosing spondylitis: the development of the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index. J Rheumatol. 1994;21:2281–2285. - PubMed
    1. Garrett S, Jenkinson T. A new approach to defining disease status in ankylosing spondylitis: the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity . Index. J Rheumatol. 1994;21:2286–2291. - PubMed