title: Investigation of effects of different treatment modalities on structural and functional vessel wall properties in patients with ankylosing spondylitis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic systemic inflammatory disease that is associated with increased cardiovascular burden. The aim of this study was to investigate vascular structural and functional changes in patients with AS, with special emphasis on the effects of different treatment modalities, through evaluation of level of vascular stiffness (pulse wave velocity [PVW]) and carotid intima media thickness (IMT-C).
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 67 AS patients, and age, sex, body mass index (BMI) smoking status, lipid profiles and blood pressure-matched healthy control subjects (n=34) were studied. Of these, 34 patients were on anti-TNF alpha and 33 on non steroid anti inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). The IMT-C and PWV values of the right common carotid artery were measured by high-resolution ultrasound.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The AS patients (n=67) had significantly higher PWV values than the controls [9.0 ± 1.49 m/sec vs. 8.27 ± 0.90 m/sec, P=0.004; 95% confidence interval (CI), -1.22 to -0.24]. Multiple stepwise linear regression analysis revealed that PWV could only be explained by systolic blood pressure (P<0.05) and IMT (P<0.05) in AS. Even though IMT-C in anti-TNF alpha treated group was higher compared to the NSAID treated group, it was not statistically significant (P=0.5).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PWV was found to be higher in AS patients than in the control group, and there was no significant difference between the average PWV values of AS patients treated with anti -TNF alpha or NSAIDs.
authors.affiliation: Karadeniz Technical University, Medical School, Dept. of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Farabi Hospital, 61080 Trabzon, Turkey. drcapkin@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Erhan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Capkin
authors.forename: Abdulkadir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kiris
authors.forename: Murat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karkucak
authors.forename: Ismet
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Durmus
authors.forename: Ferhat
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gokmen
authors.forename: Aysegul
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cansu
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tosun
authors.forename: Ahmet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ayar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001808:Blood Vessels; D017536:Carotid Artery, Common / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004548:Elasticity / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011673:Pulsatile Flow / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D013167:Spondylitis, Ankylosing / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D014655:Vascular Resistance / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal