Humans ; Spondylarthritis/drug therapy* ; Spondylitis, Ankylosing/drug therapy* ; China

Spondyloarthritis (SpA) is a group of chronic inflammatory conditions that predominantly involve the spine and/or peripheral joints. The clinical manifestations of SpA are diverse and disabling, with SpA adversely affecting the quality of life of patients. Many new medications that target cytokines or pathways specific for the pathogenesis of SpA have been developed and these are becoming increasingly important in the treatment of SpA. However, establishing how to identify the target patient population and standardizing the usage of these drugs are critical issues in the clinical application of these "targeted therapies".Under the leadership of National Clinical Research Center for Dermatologic and Immunologic Diseases (Peking Union Medical College Hospital), the"Consensus on targeted drug therapy for spondyloarthritis" has been developed collaborating with the Rheumatology and Immunology Physicians Committee, Chinese Medical Doctors Association, Rheumatology and Immunology Professional Committee, Chinese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine, Chinese Research Hospital Association Rheumatology and Immunology Professional Committee. This consensus was developed with evidence-based methodology and followed the international standard for consensus development.
Humans ; Consensus ; Quality of Life ; Spondylarthritis/drug therapy* ; Rheumatology ; Inflammation

BACKGROUND: The clinical features of enthesitis in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) have been reported in some Western countries, but data in China are very limited. This study aimed to describe the characteristics of enthesitis in Chinese patients with PsA and compared them with those in other cohorts. METHODS: Patients with PsA enrolled in the Chinese Registry of Psoriatic Arthritis (CREPAR) (December 2018 to June 2021) were included. Data including demographics, clinical characteristics, disease activity measures, and treatment were collected at enrollment. Enthesitis was assessed by the Spondyloarthritis Research Consortium of Canada (SPARCC), Maastricht ankylosing spondylitis enthesitis score (MASES), and Leeds enthesitis index (LEI) indices. A multivariable logistic model was used to identify factors related to enthesitis. We also compared our results with those of other cohorts. RESULTS: In total, 1074 PsA patients were included, 308 (28.7%) of whom had enthesitis. The average number of enthesitis was 3.3 ± 2.8 (range: 1.0-18.0). More than half of the patients (165, 53.6%) had one or two tender entheseal sites. Patients with enthesitis had an earlier age of onset for both psoriasis and arthritis, reported a higher proportion of PsA duration over 5 years, and had a higher percentage of axial involvement and greater disease activity. Multivariable logistic regression showed that axial involvement (odds ratio [OR] 2.21, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.59-3.08; P <0.001), psoriasis area and severity index (PASI) (OR: 1.03, 95% CI: 1.01-1.04; P = 0.002), and disease activity score 28-C reactive protein (DAS28-CRP) (OR: 1.25, 95% CI: 1.01-1.55; P = 0.037) were associated with enthesitis. Compared with the results of other studies, Chinese patients with enthesitis had a younger age, lower body mass index (BMI), a higher rate of positive human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-B27, more frequent dactylitis, and a higher proportion of conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs' (csDMARDs) use. CONCLUSIONS Enthesitis is a common condition among Chinese patients with PsA. It is important to evaluate entheses in both peripheral and axial sites.
Humans ; Arthritis, Psoriatic/drug therapy* ; East Asian People ; Enthesopathy/complications* ; Registries ; Severity of Illness Index ; Spondylarthritis/epidemiology*

Although the development of the 2009 SpA classification criteria by Assessment of SpondyloArthritis international Society (ASAS) represents an important step towards a better definition of the early disease stage particularly in axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA), the specificity of the criteria has been criticized these days. As the commonest zoonotic infection worldwide, human brucellosis can mimic a large number of diseases, including SpA. This study was performed to determine the frequency of rheumatologic manifestations in patients with brucellosis and the chance of misdiagnosing them as having axSpA in central China. The results showed that clinical manifestations of axSpA could be observed in brucellosis. Over half of patients had back pain, and one fifth of the patients with back pain were less than 45 years old at onset and had the symptom for more than 3 months. Two young males were falsely classified as suffering from axSpA according to the ASAS criteria, and one with MRI proved sacroiliitis was once given Etanercept for treatment. Therefore, differential diagnosis including human brucellosis should always be kept in mind when applying the ASAS criteria, even in traditionally non-endemic areas.
Adult ; Aged ; Antirheumatic Agents ; therapeutic use ; Back Pain ; physiopathology ; Brucellosis ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; physiopathology ; China ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Diagnostic Errors ; prevention & control ; statistics & numerical data ; Etanercept ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Inappropriate Prescribing ; statistics & numerical data ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Practice Guidelines as Topic ; Rheumatologists ; ethics ; Sacroiliitis ; physiopathology ; Spondylarthritis ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; physiopathology