Correlation of enthesitis indices with disease activity and function in axial and peripheral spondyloarthritis: a cross-sectional study comparing MASES, SPARCC and LEI.

Background: The presence of enthesitis is associated with higher disease activity, more disability and incapacity to work and a poorer quality of life in spondyloarthritis (SpA). There is currently no consensus on which clinical score should be used to assess enthesitis in SpA. The objective of the present work was to compare the correlation of three enthesitis indices (MASES, SPARCC and LEI) with measures of disease activity and function in a heterogeneous population of patients with axial and peripheral SpA.

Electrocardiographic changes in spondyloarthritis and use of anti-TNF-α drugs: a retrospective study with 100 patients.

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of electrocardiographic changes in patients with spondyloarthritis and to correlate these changes with use of anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) drugs and HLA-B27 positivity.

Methods: Retrospective study including 100 patients diagnosed with spondyloarthritis according to Assessment of SpondyloArthritis International Society (ASAS) criteria and 50 controls. Epidemiological and clinical features, results of inflammatory activity tests, HLA-B27 positivity, and medication use data were extracted from medical records.

Different ethnic background is associated with distinct clinical profiles in the spondyloarthritides in the North and South of Brazil.

The objective of this study was to analyze the clinical profile of the spondyloarthritides (SpA) in distinct Brazilian regions. A common protocol of investigation was prospectively applied to 202 SpA patients, including 138 patients from the South and 64 patients from the North. All the patients were classified as axial or peripheral SpA.