Table 2.

Clinical parameters and biomarker levels of axSpA at baseline and after 6 months of exercise therapy

	All axSpA			nr-axSpA			AS
	(n = 40)			(n = 18)			(n = 22)
	Baseline	6 months	P value	Baseline	6 months	P value	Baseline	6 months	P value
ASDAS-CRP	2.10 ± 0.12	1.84 ± 0.11	<0.01	2.01 ± 0.19	1.73 ± 0.16	<0.05	2.17 ± 0.16	1.93 ± 0.15	ns
BASDAI	2.78 ± 0.31	2.30 ± 0.25	ns	2.98 ± 0.28	2.27 ± 0.41	ns	2.63 ± 0.35	2.31 ± 0.32	ns
BASFI	1.06 ± 0.16	1.01 ± 0.14	ns	1.23 ± 0.28	1.73 ± 0.16	ns	0.92 ± 0.17	0.93 ± 0.18	ns
BASMI	1.28 ± 0.14	0.66 ± 0.84	<0.0001	1.09 ± 0.12	0.47 ± 0.08	<0.0001	1.43 ± 0.24	0.82 ± 0.23	<0.0001
CRP (mg/l)	4.67 ± 0.89	3.86 ± 0.82	ns	2.10 ± 0.48	2.16 ± 0.56	ns	6.76 ± 1.45	5.24 ± 1.37	ns
IL-6 (pg/ml)	10.31 ± 3.93	10.07 ± 4.60	ns	14.78 ± 8.35	15.40 ± 9.79	ns	6.48 ± 1.46	5.51 ± 1.63	ns
IL-17 (pg/ml)	323.50 ± 57.06	401.50 ± 75.87	ns	349.20 ± 82.55	285.30 ± 72.73	ns	301.80 ± 80.57	499.30 ± 123.10	ns
TNF-α (pg/ml)	65.22 ± 12.30	56.89 ± 10.61	ns	55.87 ± 10.49	45.03 ± 6.76	ns	72.49 ± 20.45	62.12 ± 18.06	ns
Calprotectin (ng/ml)	2408.0 ± 183.30	1800.0 ± 101.90	<0.001	2379.0 ± 243.20	1779.0 ± 138.30	<0.01	2430.0 ± 269.70	1816.0 ± 148.20	<0.01

The statistical significance was determined as a p value < 0.05; the paired non parametric test (Wilcoxon) was used for analysis of baseline versus 6 month data for each group. All data are characterised as mean ± standard deviation. axSpA axial spondyloarthritis, nr-axSpA non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis, AS ankylosing spondylitis, ASDAS-CRP AS disease activity score, CRP C-reactive protein, BASDAI Bath AS disease activity index, BASFI Bath AS functional index, BASMI Bath AS metrology index, IL interleukin, TNF tumour necrosis factor, ns not significant