Takeaway
- Hypertension is associated with increased spondyloarthritis (SpA) disease duration and delay in SpA diagnosis.
- This association is stronger in patients with axial disease than in those with peripheral disease.
Why this matters
- Regular blood pressure measurement would help physicians better manage patients with SpA, particularly those with longer disease duration.
Study design
- Analysis of data from the ASAS-COMOSPA (Assessment of Spondylo-arthritis international Society–COMOrbidities in Spondylo-Arthritis) study (n=3923; median SpA disease duration, 5.1 years; interquartile range, 1.3-11.8 years).
- Associations between SpA disease duration and CV-related conditions were evaluated using univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses.
- Funding: COMOSPA study was supported by AbbVie, Pfizer and UCB.
Key results
- The main CV-related conditions assessed were hypertension (22.4%), dyslipidaemia (16.6%), ischaemic heart disease (2.6%), stroke (1.3%) and diabetes mellitus (5.5%).
- Odds of having a diagnosis of hypertension increased by 13% per each 5-year increase in the duration of SpA (OR, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.07-1.19; P<.001).
- A weak but marginally significant association was observed between hypertension and delay in SpA diagnosis (OR, 1.01; 95% CI, 1.00-1.02; P=.033).
- Factors associated with hypertension were age, male sex, current body mass index, ever use of steroid therapy and synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug therapy, but not ever use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
- Strongest association of hypertension and disease duration was seen in patients with the axial-only SpA phenotype (OR, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.05-1.37) but not in those with peripheral-only SpA (OR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.76-1.07).
- Other CV-related conditions showed no association with SpA disease duration.
Limitations
- Self-reported data may incur recall bias.
References
References