Assessing Disease Activity in Axial Spondyloarthritis: Finding the Balance Between the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index and Axial Spondyloarthritis Disease Activity Score

Le résumé fourni par la source

Axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) is a chronic inflammatory condition that significantly affects patients’ quality of life.1 Accurate assessment of disease activity is critical for both clinical decision making and evaluating treatment response. The 2 most widely used measures of disease activity, the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) and the Axial Spondyloarthritis Disease Activity Score (ASDAS), have been extensively studied for their clinical utility, correlation with other disease outcomes, and sensitivity to response to treatments.2 In this editorial, the findings of Alonso et al in their study, “Performance of disease activity indices used in axial spondyloarthritis in real-world clinical settings,”3 are reviewed and their results compared with previous research evaluating ASDAS and BASDAI. The study by Alonso et al aimed to assess the comparative performance of ASDAS and BASDAI in real-world clinical practice.3 This cross-sectional study analyzed 330 patients meeting the Assessment of SpondyloArthritis international Society (ASAS) criteria for axSpA.4 The study found a high correlation between ASDAS and BASDAI (Pearson r ≥ 0.73), with substantial concordance in activity classification (weighted κ ≥ 0.61). BASDAI cutoffs of 3.95 and 5.85 corresponded to ASDAS high and very high activity categories, respectively, whereas ASDAS ≥ 2.1 and BASDAI ≥ 3 accurately identified high-impact disease according to the ASAS Health Index (ASAS HI). The findings suggest that both indices perform similarly in routine clinical settings and may be used interchangeably. This result is also supported by previous studies showing high correlation between the 2 indices.5,6 Several studies have previously examined the comparative accuracy, sensitivity, and correlation of ASDAS and BASDAI in axSpA.6,7 Both indices show good correlation with patient and physician global assessments.8 In this study by Alonso et al, ASDAS and BASDAI demonstrate similar discriminative ability between high disease activity … Address correspondence to Prof. A.T.Y. Chan, University Department of Rheumatology, Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, Craven Road, Reading, Berkshire, RG1 5AN, UK. Email: antoni.chan{at}nhs.net.

Ce résumé expose les affirmations des auteurs. BNTIC ne l’interprète pas comme une validation indépendante des résultats.