AB0683 IS THE NEW ASDAS NOMENCLATURE IN LINE WITH THERAPEUTIC DECISION MAKING IN PATIENTS WITH AXIAL SPONDYLOARTHRITIS?

Abstract

Background:The Assessment of SpondyloArthritis international Society (ASAS) proposed in 2018 a change in the nomenclature of the Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Score (ASDAS) for monitoring disease activity in axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA), renaming the previously status of moderate disease activity as low disease activity status, with the presumption that this better reflects the perception that the doctor and the patient have about the disease situation. However, this decision was not data-driven.Objectives:To evaluate the association between the state of low disease activity according to the new ASDAS nomenclature and the therapeutic decision in patients with axSpA.Methods:Longitudinal retrospective study in which patients with axSpA recruited in a secondary hospital were included. All patients with clinical diagnosis of axSpA who started treatment with a first inhibitor of tumor necrosis factor between January 2014 and June 2019 were included. At each follow-up visit, disease activity assessments (including BASDAI and CRP) and the therapeutic decision of the doctor were collected. Later, the ASDAS was calculated and disease status at each visit was classified according to the new nomenclature (inactive, low, high and very high activity). Using descriptive statistics, the association between the disease activity status and the therapeutic decision was evaluated.Results:A total of 304 visits were analyzed in 104 patients with axSpA. Out of these, 57% were women, 47% had a subtype of non-radiographic axSpA and 42% were HLA-B27 positive. The mean (standard deviation) age at diagnosis was 46.9 (12.5) years. In the visits with an ASDAS showing a status of low activity, the therapeutic attitude was not to intensify the treatment in 98.2% of the cases. However, in visits with an ASDAS status of high or very high disease activity, treatment was intensified in 33.7% and 82.8% of cases, respectively.Conclusion:In clinical practice, the status of disease activity initially classified by the ASDAS as moderate disease activity is currently considered to represent low disease activity status based on the therapeutic attitude of following a non-intensification strategy in this situation. These data support the recent change in the nomenclature of disease activity states according to the ASDAS.