P029 Assessment of diagnosis delay during enthesitis related arthritis

Abstract

Abstract Background Enthesitis related arthritis (ERA) is a distinct subgroup of juvenile arthritis characterized by male predominance and adolescent onset. Though, ERA patients still experience long diagnosis delays. This may lead to articular damage and functional disability. The aim of this study was to quantify the lag time between ERA symptoms onset and diagnosis and to evaluate its impact on disease activity, functional disability and structural damage. Methods A retrospective monocentric study was carried out on ERA patients. Diagnosis delay was collected from patients’ medical files. Disease activity was evaluated by: erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP) and Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI). Functional disability and structural damage were evaluated by Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Fonctional Index (BASFI) and Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Radiology Index (BASRI) respectively. Data were analyzed using the SPSS statistical package. A p-value < 0.05 was considered significant. Results Thirty-four patients with a mean age of 23.8 ± 7.5 years were included. Male to female sex ratio was 3.85. Mean age at disease onset was 12 ± 2.6 years. Median disease duration was 108 months [12–408]. Median ERA diagnosis delay was 10 months [3–108]. Median ESR and CRP were 35 mm/h [8–90] and 20 mg/l [1–70] respectively. Median BASDAI score was 4.7 [1–9.7]. Median BASFI and BASRI scores were 4.6 [1.9–10] and 10 [2–16] respectively. Coxitis was found in 38.2% of cases. On statistical analysis, significant positive correlation was found between ERA diagnosis delay and ESR (P = 0.03, r = 0.69) and CRP (P = 0.05, r = 0.456) respectively. No link was noted between ERA diagnosis delay and these parameters: gender (P = 0.58), age at disease onset (P = 0.68), occurrence of coxitis (P = 0.66), BASFI (P = 0.08), BASDAI (P = 0.45) and BASRI (P = 0.12). Conclusion ERA patient’s journey was long in our study. Longer delays were associated with higher ESR and CRP levels. Further studies are required to confirm our results.