Clinical characteristics, comorbidities, and disease activity outcomes in a Saudi Arabian axial spondyloarthritis cohort.
Most patients in a Saudi cohort achieved a practical axial spondyloarthritis disease activity target.
Clinical characteristics, comorbidities, and disease activity outcomes in a Saudi Arabian axial spondyloarthritis cohort.
Real-world data on axial spondyloarthritis from Saudi Arabia remain limited.
We conducted a retrospective single-center cohort study including 148 patients who fulfilled international classification criteria for axial spondyloarthritis and had sufficient clinical data for analysis, including paired baseline and 12-month (mean 12.2 ± 1.1 months) ankylosing spondylitis disease activity score based on C-reactive protein (ASDAS-CRP) values.
this percentage of patients achieved a practical target for their spinal arthritis activity
Mean age was 41.0 ± 12.8 years, 64.9% were male, and mean diagnostic delay was 4.3 ± 3.3 years.
HLA-B27 was positive in 62.8%, numerically more often in ankylosing spondylitis than in nonradiographic disease (73.8% vs 48.4%) and in men than in women (68.8% vs 51.9%).
Peripheral arthritis, enthesitis, uveitis, psoriasis, and inflammatory bowel disease occurred in 39.9%, 41.2%, 17.6%, 14.9%, and 9.5%, respectively.
This study provides important real-world data from a large Saudi tertiary-care cohort on axial spondyloarthritis phenotype, comorbidity burden, cumulative advanced-therapy exposure, and 12-month outcomes.
67.6% of patients reached a practical disease activity target (ASDAS-CRP < 2.1), although inactive disease was achieved by a smaller subgroup (14.2%).
Key Points • This study represents one of the largest published single-center Saudi cohorts of patients with axial spondyloarthritis.