Assessing the construct validity of clinical tests to identify sacroiliac joint inflammation in patients with non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis.

Aim: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be used to identify sacroiliac joint (SIJ) inflammation and provide an earlier diagnosis of nonradiographic axial spondyloarthritis (nrAxSpA). However, MRI is frequently a resource-limited examination. Our aim was to assess if a set of physical clinical tests can identify SIJ inflammation in patients with nrAxSpA.

Association of Crohn's disease-related chromosome 1q32 with ankylosing spondylitis is independent of bowel symptoms and faecal calprotectin.

Background: Genome-wide association studies have identified a plethora of risk genes for both Crohn's disease (CD) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS). A subset of genes found to be risk factors for CD have also been found to be risk factors for AS. The objective of our study was to assess whether CD risk genes were associated with non-invasive clinical markers of gut inflammation in patients with AS, indicating a potential subset of patients with clinical as well as genetic overlap.

The oral microbiome of patients with axial spondyloarthritis compared to healthy individuals.

Background. A loss of mucosal tolerance to the resident microbiome has been postulated in the aetiopathogenesis of spondyloarthritis, thus the purpose of these studies was to investigate microbial communities that colonise the oral cavity of patients with axial spondyloarthritis (AxSpA) and to compare these with microbial profiles of a matched healthy population. Methods.

Role of Physical Evaluation in the Early Identification of Axial Spondyloarthritis: A Research Proposal.

The aim of this study was to present a rationale to explore the use of clinical tests for the sacroiliac joints to detect early axial spondyloarthritis (SpA) and to suggest a protocol to validate these clinical tests. Based on the European Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatments of Pelvic Girdle Pain, we propose a set of six clinical tests to identify the likely presence of inflammation in the sacroiliac joints associated with early axial SpA. As magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the current gold standard used to identify inflammation in the sacroiliac joints, the results of the proposed set of clinical tests are compared with those from the MRI examinations.

Construct validity of clinical spinal mobility tests in ankylosing spondylitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

The study aimed to determine, using systematic review and meta-analysis, the level of evidence supporting the construct validity of spinal mobility tests for assessing patients with ankylosing spondylitis. Following the guidelines proposed in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses, three sets of keywords were used for data searching: (i) ankylosing spondylitis, spondyloarthritis, spondyloarthropathy, spondylarthritis; (ii) accuracy, association, construct, correlation, Outcome Measures in Rheumatoid Arthritis Clinical Trials, OMERACT, truth, validity; (iii) mobility, Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Metrology Index-BASMI, radiography, spinal measures, cervical rotation, Schober (a further 19 keywords were used). Initially, 2558 records were identified, and from these, 21 studies were retained.

Criterion-concurrent validity of spinal mobility tests in ankylosing spondylitis: a systematic review of the literature.

Objective: To examine the level of evidence for criterion-concurrent validity of spinal mobility assessments in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS).

Methods: Guidelines proposed in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses were used to undertake a search strategy involving 3 sets of keywords: accura*, truth, valid*; ankylosing spondylitis, spondyloarthritis, spondyloarthropathy, spondylarthritis; mobility, spinal measure*, (a further 16 keywords with similar meaning were used). Seven databases were searched from their inception to February 2014: AMED, Embase, ProQuest, PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, and Web of Science.

Fatigue in patients with spondyloarthritis associates with disease activity, quality of life and inflammatory bowel symptoms.

The study aimed to assess the severity of fatigue in patients with axial spondyloarthritis (AxSpA), to assess the performance of two different fatigue measures in AxSpA, and to examine disease variables which may influence the severity of fatigue. Fatigue was examined among 67 patients with AxSpA using two measures: the fatigue Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) from the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) and the Multidimensional Assessment of Fatigue (MAF) score. These measures were tested for convergent validity using linear regression analysis.

Prevalence of HLA-B27 in the New Zealand population: effect of age and ethnicity.

Introduction: HLA-B27 genotyping is commonly used to support a diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis (AS). A recent study has suggested that HLA-B27 may adversely affect longevity. The objectives of this study were to determine, for the first time, the prevalence of HLA-B27 in the New Zealand population, and to test whether HLA-B27 prevalence declines with age.

The immune response to autologous bacteroides in ankylosing spondylitis is characterized by reduced interleukin 10 production.

Objective: Ileocolitis is a recognized feature of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and is likely to play a role in the pathogenesis of AS, in conjunction with the normal intestinal microbiota. In order to investigate the host immune response in AS, we measured cytokines in tissue culture following exposure of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) to autologous colonic bacteria.

Methods: Twenty-one patients with AS and 21 matched controls were recruited.