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Research Shows Coexisting RA and AS Are Often Misdiagnosed
Patients with coexisting ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are often misdiagnosed, researchers found.
Investigators studied the key characteristics of coexisting RA in patients with AS to improve disease awareness and association, and pinpoint missteps in delayed diagnosis.
They studied the initial patient criteria; clinical and laboratory data, including recorded symptoms, medical records, and clinical features; imaging changes; and follow-up assessments before statistical analysis using retrospective data between 2012 and 2018 from 22 patients with RA/AS, and a history of delayed diagnosis for RA or AS.
The outcome measures used were disease activity score 28 (DAS28) or Bath ankylosing spondylitis disease activity index (BASDAI).
The study revealed the most common clinical manifestations in these patients were systemic, symmetric, peripheral, and axial arthritis.
“Coexisting RA and AS is often misdiagnosed for many years; a lack of recognition of RA and AS together is one of the most common reasons. Systemic, symmetric, peripheral, and axial arthritis in middle-aged women were the most frequent presentations at onset,” the authors concluded.
--Angelique Platas
Reference
Zhang Y, Feng B, Dong J, Zhong Y, Wang L, Zhao L. Rheumatoid arthritis coexisting with ankylosing spondylitis: A report of 22 cases with delayed diagnosis. Medicine. 2021;100:13(e25051).
