title: Ankylosing spondylitis functional and activity indices in clinical practice.
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.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  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.
authors.affiliation: "Sfânta Maria" Clinical Hospital, Bucharest ; "Carol Davila" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Department of Internal Medicine and Rheumatology, Bucharest.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Popescu
authors.affiliation: "Sfânta Maria" Clinical Hospital, Bucharest.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Trandafir
authors.affiliation: "Sfânta Maria" Clinical Hospital, Bucharest.
authors.forename: Am
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bădică
authors.affiliation: "Sfânta Maria" Clinical Hospital, Bucharest.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Morar
authors.affiliation: "Sfânta Maria" Clinical Hospital, Bucharest ; "Carol Davila" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Department of Internal Medicine and Rheumatology, Bucharest.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Predeţeanu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001416:Back Pain / Q000473:pathology*; D001799:Blood Sedimentation; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D015796:HLA-B27 Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D012372:ROC Curve; D058566:Sacroiliitis / Q000473:pathology*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013167:Spondylitis, Ankylosing / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D015796:HLA-B27 Antigen; D002097:C-Reactive Protein
keywords: ASDAS; BASDAI; BASFI; ankylosing spondylitis