Abstract

Background Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory rheumatic disease which could lead to pain, functionally limitation and even less life expectancy. Morning stiffness often occur in the patients. Familial aggregation has been found due to genetic susceptiblity of the disease. There are certain difference in the patients with or without familal AS. For example. familial AS patients were reported to show a lower frequency of oligoarthritis [1]. Objectives Our study was to investigate the difference of morning stiffness in the patients with familial AS or sporadic AS. Methods Study participants were recruited from Department of Rheumatology in theThird Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University. Each patient was assessed by at least two qualified rheumatologists, and the diagnosis was made according to 1984 Modified New York Classification Criteria for AS. Through detailed family history, AS patients with 2 or more patients in his/her family who firstly went to our clinic were included as a possible proband. Then the probands broughtthe affected relatives to our clinic for further examination. Or three rheumatologists and two nurses drove to the places where a possible proband’s family member lived. Baseline assessments were completed by trained by using identical questionnaires including demographic information (age, gender), disease related characteristics (back pain, morning stiffness, peripheral arthritis, uveitis, etc.), Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI), and Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI). The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 21 was used for all data management and analysis. The difference between familial and sporadic AS patients were examined by using Independent T test or M-U test. Results Of all the 264 AS patients, 175 (66.3%) were males and 89 (33.7%) were female patients. Mean age was 31.0±9.5 years, and disease duration was 7.3±6.7 years. Mean age of disease onset was 23.4±8.5 years. There was no difference between familial and sporadic AS patients in the aspects of age, sex, age of onset and disease duration. However, age of onset of male familial AS patients was significantly lower than that of female patients (21.9±8.4 VS 26.3± 8.2 , p =0.004), while no such sex difference was detected in sporadic patients (22.6±8.1 VS 25.3± 8.6 , p =0.08). Familial patients were inclined to have hip joint involvement, compared with sporadic patients (58.6% VS 9.6, p 0.05). Mean BASDAI score was 3.6±2.0, and mean BASFI score was 1.4±1.8. The BASDAI score was slightly higher in sporadic group (p=0.027). Conclusion Familial AS patients had more hip joint involvement, less morning stiffness and an earlier disease onset, especially in male patients, compared with sporadic patients. Reference [1] Kim, H.W., et al., Phenotype difference between familial and sporadic ankylosing spondylitis in Korean patients. J Korean Med Sci, 2014. 29(6): p.782-7. Disclosure of Interests None declared

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