Table 2. Summary of the patients and healthy controls' characteristics.
| AS patients | Healthy | p-value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baseline | Follow-up | |||
| Sample size | 13 | 25 | ||
| Age (years) | 37 [33–43] | 39 [36–49] | 0.8028 | |
| Females % | 38% | 48% | 0.7342 | |
| Symptoms duration (years) | 10 [7–21] | NA | ||
| HLA-B27 (% positive) | 54% | NA | ||
| Presence of syndesmophytes (%) | 40% | NA | ||
| Peripheral involvement (%) | 46% | NA | ||
| Treatment with NSAIDs (%) | 77% | NA | ||
| NSAIDs duration (months) | 24 [8–42] | NA | ||
| Treatment with DMARDs (%) | 46% | NA | ||
| DMARDs duration (months) | 24 [7–47] | NA | ||
| Treatment with corticosteroids (%) | 15% | NA | ||
| ESR (mm/h) | 30 [14–54] | 7 [4–17] | NA | 0.0010* |
| CRP (mg/dl) | 1.4 [0.1–3.0] | 0.1 [0.0–0.6] | NA | 0.0034* |
| ASDAS | 3.8 [2.2–4.3] | 1.7 [1.4–1.9] | NA | 0.0001* |
| BASDAI | 4.7 [3.9–7.5] | 2.5 [1.5–4.1] | NA | 0.0007* |
| BASFI | 6.2 [5.1–7.4] | 3.9 [1.2–5.4] | NA | 0.0032* |
| TNFi duration (months) | NA | 12 [6–12] | NA | |
Data is represented as median [Interquartile range] unless stated otherwise; DMARDs include methotrexate, hydroxychloroquine and sulfasalazine; AS—ankylosing spondylitis; HLA—human leukocyte antigen; NA—not applicable; NSAIDs—non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; DMARDs—disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs; ESR—erythrocyte sedimentation rate; CRP—C-reactive protein; ASDAS—ankylosing spondylitis disease activity score; BASDAI—Bath ankylosing spondylitis disease activity index; BASFI—Bath ankylosing spondylitis functional index; TNFi—tumor necrosis factor inhibitors.
* p-value<0.05.