Association of trabecular bone score with disease parameters and vertebral fractures in axial spondyloarthritis.

Objectives: We aimed to study trabecular bone score (TBS) association with disease parameters and vertebral fractures (VFs) in patients with axial spondyloarthritis.

Methods: Patients diagnosed with axial spondyloarthritis were included in this cross-sectional study. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry was used to measure BMD in the lumbar spine and TBS. Low TBS was defined as ≤1.31. The association between TBS and disease parameters including Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Score (ASDAS), BASDAI, BASFI and BASMI was studied using logistic regressions.

Results: Our study included 56 patients, with a mean age of 38.9 ± 13.5 years and a mean disease duration of 12.7 ± 7.7 years. Patients with low TBS were significantly older and had higher waist circumference and body mass index. These patients also showed greater clinical activity, as evidenced by higher ASDAS-CRP, BASFI and BASMI scores ( < 0.05). In multivariate logistic regression, low TBS was associated with all disease parameters, except for BASMI: BASDAI (OR [95% CI] = 3.68 [1.48-9.19],  = 0.005), ASDAS-CRP (OR [95% CI] = 2.92 [1.20-7.10],  = 0.018), BASFI (OR [95% CI] = 1.04 [1.01-1.08],  = 0.018), BASMI (OR [95% CI] = 1.36 [0.99-1.87],  = 0.062). However, no association was observed between TBS and VFs.

Conclusion: TBS was associated with active spondyloarthritis, suggesting increased bone fragility in these patients. However, TBS failed to demonstrate an association with VFs.