undifferentiated spondyloarthritis

OBJECTIVES: Reactive arthritis (ReA) provides a unique opportunity to comprehend how a mucosal infection leads to inflammatory arthritis at a distant site without the apparent invasion of the pathogen. Unfortunately, conventional stool cultures after ReA provide limited information, and there is a dearth of metagenomic studies in ReA. The objective of this study was to identify gut microbiota associated with the development of ReA. METHODS: Patients with ReA or undifferentiated peripheral spondyloarthritis (UpSpA) were included if they presented within 4 weeks of the onset of the current episode of arthritis...

OBJECTIVE: Undifferentiated, early inflammatory arthritis (EIA) can differentiate into seropositive or seronegative rheumatoid arthritis (RA), peripheral spondyloarthritis (SpA) or remain as seronegative undifferentiated inflammatory arthritis (UIA). Little is known about immune pathways active in the early stages of SpA and seronegative UIA, in contrast to detailed knowledge of seropositive RA. The aim of this study was to examine if specific immune pathways were active in synovial CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in EIA...

OBJECTIVE: Data on cellular and humoral immunogenicity after the third dose of anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in patients with immune-mediated rheumatic diseases (IMRDs) are scarce. Herein, we evaluated the adaptive immune response in IMRD patients treated with different immunosuppressive therapies (conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs [csDMARDs], biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs [bDMARDs], and targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs [tsDMARDs]) after the booster of the anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccine to determine whether any drug reduced the vaccine's response...

OBJECTIVE: To describe and analyse the initial symptoms attributable to patients with spondyloarthritis (SpA) and their association with HLA-B27 status. METHODS: This was an observational, cross-sectional and multicentre study with patients who fulfilled the European Spondyloarthropathy Study Group criteria for SpA from the Registry of Spondyloarthritis of Spanish Rheumatology (REGISPONSER) and Ibero-American Registry of Spondyloarthropathies (RESPONDIA) united registries...

OBJECTIVE: Several studies have demonstrated that anti-carbamylation protein antibodies (Anti-CarPA) are persistent in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), systemic sclerosis (SSC), primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS), and interstitial lung disease associated with RA (RA-ILD). However, the relationship between anti-CarPA and other rheumatic diseases (RDs) and non-RA-ILD is not known till now. This study sought to examine the presence of anti-CarPA in Chinese Han patients with RDs and its clinical significance...

BECKGROUND: Despite the recent advances in the field of autoinflammatory diseases, most patients with recurrent fever episodes do not have any defined diagnosis. The present study aims at describing a cohort of patients suffering from apparently unexplained recurrent fever, in whom non-radiographic axial spondylarthritis (SpA) represented the unique diagnosis identified after a complete clinical and radiologic assessment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients' data were obtained from the international registry on Undifferentiated Systemic AutoInflammatory Diseases (USAIDs) developed by the AutoInflammatory Disease Alliance (AIDA) network...

OBJECTIVE: Inflammation around the tendons of the hand interosseous muscles (interosseous tendon inflammation [ITI]) was recently identified on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a set of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and arthralgia. We conducted a large MRI study to assess the prevalence of ITI at diagnosis of RA and of other arthritides, as well as its relationship with clinical signs. METHODS: A total of 1,205 patients presenting with various types of early arthritis between 2010 and 2020 underwent contrast-enhanced hand MRI as part of the prospective Leiden Early Arthritis Cohort...

Spondyloarthritis (SpA) encompasses a group of chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases with a predilection for the spinal and sacroiliac joints, which include axial spondyloarthritis, psoriatic arthritis, reactive arthritis, arthritis associated with chronic inflammatory bowel disease, and undifferentiated spondyloarthritis. The prevalence of SpA in the population varies from 0.5 to 2%, most commonly affecting young people. Spondyloarthritis pathogenesis is related to the hyperproduction of proinflammatory cytokines (TNFα, IL-17A, IL-23, etc...

Undifferentiated peripheral spondyloarthritis (SpA) and septic arthritis are two distinct differential diagnoses for patients with acute-onset monoarthritis. Effective history-taking and thorough physical examination are essential to differentiate between these two diseases. Precise follow-up can be critical for diagnosing undifferentiated peripheral SpA. Herein, we report our experience with two cases that required differentiation between undifferentiated peripheral SpA and septic arthritis. This case series shows the importance of ruling out septic arthritis promptly and considering the possibility of undifferentiated peripheral PsA based on clinical findings and imaging tests...

To detail the unmet clinical and scientific needs in the field of rheumatology. After a 2-year hiatus due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the 22nd annual international Advances in Targeted Therapies meeting brought together more than 100 leading basic scientists and clinical researchers in rheumatology, immunology, epidemiology, molecular biology and other specialties. Breakout sessions were convened with experts in five rheumatological disease-specific groups including: rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis, axial spondyloarthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus and connective tissue diseases (CTDs)...

BACKGROUND: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence and management of inflammatory arthritis is not understood. Routinely captured data in secure platforms, such as OpenSAFELY, offer unique opportunities to understand how care for patients with inflammatory arthritis was impacted upon by the pandemic. Our objective was to use OpenSAFELY to assess the effects of the pandemic on diagnostic incidence and care delivery for inflammatory arthritis in England and to replicate key metrics from the National Early Inflammatory Arthritis Audit...

BACKGROUND: Among chronic back diseases, axial spondylarthritis (axSpA) is the entity with the largest spectrum of specific anti-inflammatory treatment modalities; however, from a general medical perspective axSpA is only ranked as another etiology of back pain to be considered after spinal cord or cauda equina compression, bone metastases, epidural abscess or osteomyelitis of the vertebrae, radiculopathy or spinal stenosis. Due to its relatively low prevalence and mostly later occurring sequelae, there is a danger that axSpA will be a relatively neglected entity for specialists...

Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) is an autoimmune astrocytopathy against foot processes of aquaporin-4 (AQP4) water channels. Patients with NMOSD tend to have other coexisting autoimmune/connective tissue diseases. However, AQP-4-antibody-positive NMOSD coexisting with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is rare. AS is an immune-mediated disorder, a subset of axial spondyloarthropathies, which commonly manifests as chronic inflammatory back pain in young people, and it has a strong association with HLA-B27...

OBJECTIVES: To study the agreement between clinical axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) diagnoses and fulfilment of the Assessment of SpondyloArthritis international Society (ASAS) axSpA and modified New York (mNY) classification criteria, and to compare disease/health status between axSpA subtypes. METHOD: Patients with prevalent, clinical axSpA attending a rheumatology clinic were enrolled in a cross-sectional study. Assessments included physical evaluation, laboratory testing, questionnaires, and appropriate imaging, allowing classification...

BACKGROUND: There is increasing knowledge of how individual lifestyle factors affect patients with spondyloarthritis, while studies exploring the combination of unhealthy lifestyle factors are lacking. Thus, our aim was to study the frequency of two or more unhealthy lifestyle factors and their associations with physical and mental health in patients with spondyloarthritis (SpA). METHODS: A population-based postal survey involving questions on lifestyle factors was completed by 1793 patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and undifferentiated spondyloarthritis (USpA)...

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the current practices in management of patients with juvenile spondyloarthritis (JSpA) who failed anti-tumour necrosis factor agents (anti-TNF). METHODS: An online survey was distributed to Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance (CARRA) members of the JIA workgroup. Data collection included estimated number of JSpA patients who have failed anti-TNF therapy over two-year period, reasons for discontinuing anti-TNF therapy and other medications used afterward...

Objective: To evaluate the evidence regarding the prevalence and risk of bundle branch block (BBB), atrioventricular block (AVB) and pacemaker implantation (PMI) in patients with spondyloarthritis compared to a control group without spondyloarthritis. Methods: A systematic review of the literature was performed using Pubmed (Medline), EMBASE (Elsevier) and Cochrane Library (Wiley) databases until December 2021. The prevalence and risk for AVB, BBB and PMI were analyzed...

Spondyloarthritis is a common rheumatologic disease, present in up to 2% of the population, characterized by inflammatory arthritis, often with enthesitis, dactylitis, spondylitis, and skin disease. It has historically been characterized as ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, arthritis associated with inflammatory bowel disease, reactive arthritis, and undifferentiated spondyloarthritis. These subsets are now classified as axial-predominant and peripheral-predominant spondyloarthritis. This article provides an updated understanding of disease classification and practical advice about diagnosis to aid in the determination of which patients should be referred to rheumatology...

BACKGROUND: The terms Spondyloarthritis and spondyloarthropathy (Spa) are used to define a group of diseases with related clinical characteristics and genetics. AIM: To report the clinical and demographic characteristics of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and undifferentiated spondyloarthritis (USpA) and to evaluate the frequency of cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody (anti-CCP) positivity. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Two hundred patients with USpA or AS, 100 control patients with a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and 100 healthy volunteers were included...

OBJECTIVES: Understanding of Juvenile reactive arthritis (jReA) and other spondyloarthritides of childhood (jSpA) is limited to small case series. Since most of them have speculated pathogenic origins in the gut, we compared and contrasted jReA with other jSpA -Enthesitis-related arthritis (ERA) and undifferentiated SpA (jUSpA). METHODS: A record-based medical data review of jReA, and jUSpA was compared with cohort data of ERA collected for other studies. Data are presented as median (interquartile range) and non-parametric tests used for analysis...