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Cross-sectionalTherapeutic advances in musculoskeletal disease · 2026

Recurrent uveitis unveiling axial spondyloarthritis: is inflammatory back pain always the main road to diagnosis? A monocentric cohort.

Alessandra Rai, Filippo Crescentini, Giorgia Citriniti … Niccolò Possemato

OphthalmologyCross-sectional

43% of uveitis patients had previously unrecognized axial spondyloarthritis.

Recurrent uveitis unveiling axial spondyloarthritis: is inflammatory back pain always the main road to diagnosis? A monocentric cohort.

Alessandra Rai … Niccolò Possemato

Therapeutic advances in musculoskeletal disease · 2026

Background

Nongranulomatous acute anterior uveitis (nongranulomatous acute anterior uveitis) is the most common extra-articular manifestation of spondyloarthritis (spondyloarthritis) and may be a warning sign of previously undiagnosed axial spondyloarthritis (ax-spondyloarthritis).

Purpose

Given the known diagnostic delay of ax-spondyloarthritis, this study aimed to determine the prevalence of previously undiagnosed ax-spondyloarthritis among nongranulomatous acute anterior uveitis patients and to characterize the clinical features of ax-spondyloarthritis identified through uveitis.

Methods

Cross-sectional study.

n = 38 patients

Results

checking for hidden spinal arthritis found it more often than expected

ax-SpA

56%

non-SpA

33%

More results

HLA-B27 positivity was more frequent in ax-spondyloarthritis than in non-spondyloarthritis patients (56% vs 33%).

All ax-spondyloarthritis patients reported prior episodes of back pain, although inflammatory back pain was present in only 56.3% at the time of evaluation.

More results

Mean Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index) scores and symptom duration were significantly higher in ax-spondyloarthritis patients ( p = 0.005 and p = 0.041, respectively).

“

Conclusion · 1 of 2

Nearly half of nongranulomatous acute anterior uveitis patients had previously unrecognized ax-spondyloarthritis, often presenting with mild or atypical axial symptoms.

Conclusion · 2 of 2

These findings highlight the importance of integrated ophthalmologic and rheumatologic evaluation to facilitate earlier ax-spondyloarthritis diagnosis.

Post

Recurrent uveitis unveiling axial spondyloarthritis: is inflammatory back pain always the main road to diagnosis? A monocentric cohort.

43% of uveitis patients had previously unrecognized axial spondyloarthritis.

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