Ankylosing Spondylitis
What is Ankylosing Spondylitis/AxSpA?
Ankylosing Spondylitis or more recently termed Axial Spondyloarthritis (AxSpA) is an inflammatory arthritis of the back and spine which can occur with or without inflammation in other joints. In AxSpA, symptoms typically first occur in the early twenties, although average diagnosis lags 10 years behind the onset of symptoms. Men and women are equally affected. Back pain is common in the general population but back pain of more than 3 months duration may be inflammatory if it fulfils 4 or more of the following criteria:
- Age at onset less than 40 years
- Onset starts gradually
- Improvement with exercise
- Improvement with anti-inflammatory drugs
- No improvement with rest
- Pain at night (with improvement on getting up)
- Buttock pain
- Family history of AxSpA in first degree relative
- History of psoriasis and/or enthesitis (pain where the tendon or ligament attaches to bone)
AxSpA is related to some other types of arthritis such as psoriatic arthritis, and other conditions such as crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. It is strongly associated with a type of eye inflammation called iritis or uveitis.