Supplementary Table 1.

Characteristics of patients in the study

	Patient value	Normal range
Duration of AS since	9.9 ± 9.3
diagnosis (years)
Time since onset of	16.6 ± 12.2
symptoms (years)
ESR (mm/hour)	31.4 ± 20.3	<15
Leucocytes (G/I)	9.08 ± 1.92	3.8–10.5
Erythrocytes (T/I)	4.88 ± 0.59	3.9–5.7
Platelets (G/I)	344 ± 99	140–345
HAQ-S score (0–3)	0.89 ± 0.51
BASFI (0–10)	4.67 ± 2.05
BASMI (0–10)	5.04 ± 2.20

AS, ankylosing spondylitis; BASFI, Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index; BASMI, Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Metrology Index; ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate; HAQ-S = Health Assessment Questionnaire; G/l, giga/liter; T/l, tara/liter.