Axial Spondyloarthritis

The patient-reported impact of axial spondyloarthritis on work productivity is greater rural areas than in cities, according to data published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

Certolizumab pegol may be safely reduced in patients across the axial spondyloarthritis spectrum who have achieved sustained disease remission on a full dose of the drug, according to data presented at the EULAR 2020 E-Congress.

Patients with early axial spondyloarthritis who achieved sustained remission at 48 weeks can reduce their maintenance dose of certolizumab pegol, although complete discontinuation should be avoided due to a high risk for flares, according to data published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

The FDA has expanded the approval of ixekizumab injection 80 mg/mL to include treatment of active nonradiographic axial spondyloarthritis in patients with objective signs of inflammation.

As a general rule, rheumatologists are comfortable with ambiguous diagnoses, given that so many of the conditions they manage are marked by a wide spectrum of presentations and manifestations. A prime example is axial spondyloarthritis, which is divided into two categories: radiographic axial spondyloarthritis — also called ankylosing spondylitis — and nonradiographic axial spondyloarthritis. Discussion surrounding the nonradiographic form of this disease has been known to prompt the almost preposterous fundamental question: Is it even a thing?

Nonradiographic axial spondyloarthritis may be under-diagnosed in the U.S. because inflammatory back pain, a key component of this condition, is often not diagnosed appropriately, according to data presented at the virtual ACR State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium.

Reducing TNF-inhibitor treatments for patients with axial spondyloarthritis may produce “little to no” clinical benefit, according to data published in Arthritis Care & Research.

MAUI, Hawaii — Primary care providers and other nonrheumatologists often ordered inappropriate blood tests in patients with suspected inflammatory back pain, according to a presentation at the 2020 Rheumatology Winter Clinical Symposium.

The incidence of peripheral and extra-rheumatic symptoms, as well as disease burden, remain similar over a period of at least 5 years between patients with radiographic and nonradiographic axial spondyloarthritis, according to data published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

Radiographic axial spondyloarthritis, or axSpA appears to have less impact on patient-reported outcome measures than the nonradiographic form of the disease, regardless of sex, according to data published in Arthritis Research & Therapy.