Ankylosing spondylitis
Last updated 17 Sept 2024
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Ankylosing spondylitis is a form of painful, ongoing joint inflammation (chronic inflammatory arthritis) that primarily affects the spine. Early symptoms of ankylosing spondylitis typically begin between the ages of 15 and 30. Most commonly, affected individuals first experience chronic back pain and stiffness. This pain worsens with rest or inactivity, and tends to be relieved with physical activity or exercise.
Description
Ankylosing spondylitis is a form of painful, ongoing joint inflammation (chronic inflammatory arthritis) that primarily affects the spine. Early symptoms of ankylosing spondylitis typically begin between the ages of 15 and 30. Most commonly, affected individuals first experience chronic back pain and stiffness. This pain worsens with rest or inactivity, and tends to be relieved with physical activity or exercise.
Pain in ankylosing spondylitis results from inflammation of the joints between the pelvic bones (the ilia) and the base of the spine (the sacrum). These joints are called sacroiliac joints, and inflammation of these joints is known as sacroiliitis. The inflammation gradually spreads to the joints between the vertebrae, eventually involving the whole spine, causing a condition called spondylitis. Over time, back movement gradually becomes limited as the bones of the spine (vertebrae) fuse together. This progressive bony fusion is called ankylosis. These fused bones are prone to fracture.
Ankylosing spondylitis can involve other joints as well, including the shoulders, hips, and, less often, the knees. As the disease progresses, it can affect the joints between the spine and ribs, restricting movement of the chest and making it difficult to breathe deeply.
Ankylosing spondylitis affects the eyes in more than 30 percent of cases, leading to episodes of eye inflammation called acute iritis. Acute iritis typically affects one eye at a time and causes eye pain and increased sensitivity to light (photophobia). Rarely, ankylosing spondylitis can also cause serious complications involving the heart, lungs, and nervous system. Six to 10 percent of people with ankylosing spondylitis have additional inflammatory disorders such as psoriasis, which affects the skin, or ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease, which both affect the digestive tract.
Inheritance patterns
The source lists the following possible inheritance patterns: Pattern unknown. More than one pattern can apply in different cases.
Related genes
Other names
axial spondylarthritis
Bechterew disease
Marie-Struempell disease
SpA
Spondylarthritis ankylopoietica
Spondylitis ankylopoietica
spondyloarthritis
Spondyloarthritis ankylopoietica
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Patient information leaflet
Ankylosing spondylitis
Ankylosing spondylitis is a chronic inflammatory arthritis. It mainly affects the lower back but can affect the rest of the spine. Other joints and other parts of the body are sometimes affected. What is ankylosing spondylitis. Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a persistent (chronic) inflammatory arthritic disease. The word ankylosing means joining.
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Axial spondyloarthritis
Axial spondyloarthritis (also known as axSpA or axial SpA) is a painful, chronic arthritis that mainly affects the joints of the spine, and also the joints connecting each side of the base of the spine with the pelvis (sacroiliac joints). It is divided into: 1) Ankylosing spondylitis. Spondyloarthritis Spondyloar... This condition is also called.
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Arthritis
It is an uncommon infection but very serious. Emergency treatment in hospital is needed. Ankylosing spondylitis Ankylosing spondylitis is a form of arthritis. It mainly affects the lower back. Other joints and other parts of the body are sometimes affected. Treatment includes regular exercise and anti-inflammatory medicines. The severity of.
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Joint pain
This leaflet summarises the most common causes of joint pain, and discusses when you should seek help if you have joint pain. Fibromyalgia. Ankylosing spondylitis. Fibromyalgia Causes pains and tenderness in many areas of the body, as well as tiredness and other symptoms, including memory loss ... Ankylosing spondylitis This is a form of.
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Lower back pain
Less common causes of lower back pain Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis and usually occurs in older people. Ankylosing spondylitis is another form of arthritis that can occur in young adults and which causes pain and stiffness in the lower back. Rheumatoid arthritis may affect the spine but other joints are usually affected too..
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Back and spine pain
This leaflet gives some general information about the back and back pain. It will also direct you to pages with more detailed information on the different conditions that can cause back pain. It can occasionally affect the spine. Ankylosing spondylitis is a form of arthritis that mainly affects the spine: It can affect other joints and other parts.
Further reading and references
- Ankylosing spondylitis; MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine.
- Akkoc N, Yarkan H, Kenar G, Khan MA. Ankylosing Spondylitis: HLA-B*27-Positive Versus HLA-B*27-Negative Disease. Curr Rheumatol Rep. 2017 May;19(5):26. doi: 10.1007/s11926-017-0654-8.
- Bittar M, Yong WC, Magrey M, Khan MA. Worldwide Differences in Clinical Phenotype of Axial Spondyloarthritis. Curr Rheumatol Rep. 2021 Sep 29;23(10):76. doi: 10.1007/s11926-021-01043-5.
- Brown MA. Breakthroughs in genetic studies of ankylosing spondylitis. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2008 Feb;47(2):132-7. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/kem269. Epub 2007 Nov 22.
- International Genetics of Ankylosing Spondylitis Consortium (IGAS); Cortes A, Hadler J, Pointon JP, Robinson PC, Karaderi T, Leo P, Cremin K, Pryce K, Harris J, Lee S, Joo KB, Shim SC, Weisman M, Ward M, Zhou X, Garchon HJ, Chiocchia G, Nossent J, Lie BA, Forre O, Tuomilehto J, Laiho K, Jiang L, Liu Y, Wu X, Bradbury LA, Elewaut D, Burgos-Vargas R, Stebbings S, Appleton L, Farrah C, Lau J, Kenna TJ, Haroon N, Ferreira MA, Yang J, Mulero J, Fernandez-Sueiro JL, Gonzalez-Gay MA, Lopez-Larrea C, Deloukas P, Donnelly P; Australo-Anglo-American Spondyloarthritis Consortium (TASC); Groupe Francaise d'Etude Genetique des Spondylarthrites (GFEGS); Nord-Trondelag Health Study (HUNT); Spondyloarthritis Research Consortium of Canada (SPARCC); Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium 2 (WTCCC2); Bowness P, Gafney K, Gaston H, Gladman DD, Rahman P, Maksymowych WP, Xu H, Crusius JB, van der Horst-Bruinsma IE, Chou CT, Valle-Onate R, Romero-Sanchez C, Hansen IM, Pimentel-Santos FM, Inman RD, Videm V, Martin J, Breban M, Reveille JD, Evans DM, Kim TH, Wordsworth BP, Brown MA. Identification of multiple risk variants for ankylosing spondylitis through high-density genotyping of immune-related loci. Nat Genet. 2013 Jul;45(7):730-8. doi: 10.1038/ng.2667. Epub 2013 Jun 9.
- Khan MA, Haroon M, Rosenbaum JT. Acute Anterior Uveitis and Spondyloarthritis: More Than Meets the Eye. Curr Rheumatol Rep. 2015 Sep;17(9):59. doi: 10.1007/s11926-015-0536-x.
- Khan MA, van der Linden S. Axial Spondyloarthritis: A Better Name for an Old Disease: A Step Toward Uniform Reporting. ACR Open Rheumatol. 2019 Jul 11;1(5):336-339. doi: 10.1002/acr2.11044. eCollection 2019 Jul. No abstract available.
- Khan MA. An Update on the Genetic Polymorphism of HLA-B*27 With 213 Alleles Encompassing 160 Subtypes (and Still Counting). Curr Rheumatol Rep. 2017 Feb;19(2):9. doi: 10.1007/s11926-017-0640-1.
- Mauro D, Thomas R, Guggino G, Lories R, Brown MA, Ciccia F. Ankylosing spondylitis: an autoimmune or autoinflammatory disease? Nat Rev Rheumatol. 2021 Jul;17(7):387-404. doi: 10.1038/s41584-021-00625-y. Epub 2021 Jun 10.
- Nancy Z, Yan L, Hui S, Paul B, Liye C. From the Genetics of Ankylosing Spondylitis to New Biology and Drug Target Discovery. Front Immunol. 2021 Feb 17;12:624632. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.624632. eCollection 2021.
- Navarro-Compan V, Sepriano A, El-Zorkany B, van der Heijde D. Axial spondyloarthritis. Ann Rheum Dis. 2021 Dec;80(12):1511-1521. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2021-221035. Epub 2021 Oct 6.
- Qaiyum Z, Lim M, Inman RD. The gut-joint axis in spondyloarthritis: immunological, microbial, and clinical insights. Semin Immunopathol. 2021 Apr;43(2):173-192. doi: 10.1007/s00281-021-00845-0. Epub 2021 Feb 24.
- Robinson PC, van der Linden S, Khan MA, Taylor WJ. Axial spondyloarthritis: concept, construct, classification and implications for therapy. Nat Rev Rheumatol. 2021 Feb;17(2):109-118. doi: 10.1038/s41584-020-00552-4. Epub 2020 Dec 23.
- Rosine N, Rowe H, Koturan S, Yahia-Cherbal H, Leloup C, Watad A, Berenbaum F, Sellam J, Dougados M, Aimanianda V, Cuthbert R, Bridgewood C, Newton D, Bianchi E, Rogge L, McGonagle D, Miceli-Richard C. Characterization of Blood Mucosal-Associated Invariant T Cells in Patients With Axial Spondyloarthritis and of Resident Mucosal-Associated Invariant T Cells From the Axial Entheses of Non-Axial Spondyloarthritis Control Patients. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2022 Nov;74(11):1786-1795. doi: 10.1002/art.42090. Epub 2022 Sep 22.
- Rudwaleit M, van der Heijde D, Landewe R, Listing J, Akkoc N, Brandt J, Braun J, Chou CT, Collantes-Estevez E, Dougados M, Huang F, Gu J, Khan MA, Kirazli Y, Maksymowych WP, Mielants H, Sorensen IJ, Ozgocmen S, Roussou E, Valle-Onate R, Weber U, Wei J, Sieper J. The development of Assessment of SpondyloArthritis international Society classification criteria for axial spondyloarthritis (part II): validation and final selection. Ann Rheum Dis. 2009 Jun;68(6):777-83. doi: 10.1136/ard.2009.108233. Epub 2009 Mar 17.
- van der Linden SM, Khan MA, Li Z, Baumberger H, Zandwijk HV, Khan K, Villiger PM, Brown MA. Factors predicting axial spondyloarthritis among first-degree relatives of probands with ankylosing spondylitis: a family study spanning 35 years. Ann Rheum Dis. 2022 Jun;81(6):831-837. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2021-222083. Epub 2022 Mar 11.
- Zhao SS, Pittam B, Harrison NL, Ahmed AE, Goodson NJ, Hughes DM. Diagnostic delay in axial spondyloarthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2021 Apr 6;60(4):1620-1628. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/keaa807.
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