Two-year incidence of psoriasis, uveitis and inflammatory bowel disease in patients with spondyloarthritis: A study in the AQUILES cohort.

OBJECTIVES: To describe the 2-year incidence of new extra-articular manifestations (uveitis, psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease) in a cohort of patients with spondyloarthritis included in the AQUILES study.

PATIENTS: Over a period of 2 years, 513 patients with spondyloarthritis (62.5% males, mean age 48 years) diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) (55.6%), psoriatic arthritis (25.3%), undifferentiated spondyloarthritis (16.2%), enteropathic arthritis (2.5%), and other diseases (0.4%) were followed. New diagnoses were based on reports of the corresponding specialists (ophthalmologists, dermatologists, gastroenterologists).

RESULTS: During the 2-year follow-up, 22 new diagnoses of the extra-articular manifestations were established, with a cumulative incidence of 4.3% (95% confidence interval 2.4-6.1) and an incidence rate of 17 cases per 10,000 patient-year. Uveitis was the most frequent diagnosis (cumulative incidence 3.1%), predominantly in patients with AS. In the multivariate analysis, the diagnosis of AS was the only predictive variable associated to the development of new extra-articular disease.

CONCLUSIONS: In patients with spondyloarthritis, the 2-year global incidence of uveitis, psoriasis and inflammatory bowel disease (IMID) was 4.3%, particularly due to new diagnoses of uveitis in patients with AS.