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Rheumatology Advance Access published online on September 16, 2008
Rheumatology, doi:10.1093/rheumatology/ken357
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Editorial

What is the most important outcome parameter in ankylosing spondylitis?

J. Braun1 and J. Sieper2

1Rheumazentrum Ruhrgebiet, Herne, Ruhr University, Bochum and 2Department of Gastroenterology and Rheumatology, Universitätsmedizin Charité, Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Correspondence to: J. Braun, Rheumazentrum Ruhrgebiet, Landgrafenstr. 15 44652 Herne, Germany. E-mail: j.braun@rheumazentrum-ruhrgebiet.de

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

AS is the most frequent inflammatory rheumatic disease that not only affects the spine, peripheral joints and entheses, but also other organs such as the anterior uvea [1]. The disease starts relatively early in life at a mean age of 26 yrs and is only somewhat more frequent in male than in female patients, with inflammatory back pain being a characteristic symptom [2]. The disease usually takes a chronic course that is characterized by new bone formation with syndesmophytes and ankylosis [1]. More than 30% of the patients carry a heavy burden of disease and have a decreased quality of life [3].

The cornerstones of treatment are physical therapy and drug therapy with NSAIDs [4]. The pros and cons of these agents in the therapy of AS have recently been discussed [5]. Patients in whom the disease activity . . . [Full Text of this Article]


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