Arterial Stiffness and Anti-Tumor Necrosis Factor-Alpha Therapy in Ankylosing Spondylitis: Results With Long-Term Two Year-Follow-Up

• Published in: Archives of rheumatology Vol. 29; no. 4; pp. 250 - 256
• Main Authors: Karkucak, Murat, Capkin, Erhan, Kiris, Abdulkadir, Sahin, Mursel, Turkyilmaz, Aysegul Kucukali, Karaca, Adem, Gokmen, Ferhat, Ayar, Ahmet
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Istanbul Turkish League Against Rheumatism 01.12.2014; Prof Sebnem Ataman, President Turkish League Against Rheumatism
• Subjects: Ankylosing spondylitis; C-reactive protein; Care and treatment; Necrosis; Tumor necrosis factor
• ISSN: 2148-5046; 1309-0291; 1309-0283
• DOI: 10.5606/ArchRheumatol.2014.4261

Objectives: This prospective clinical study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of long-term of anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-[alpha]) therapy on arterial stiffness in ankylosing spondylitis. Patients and methods: A total of 28 active ankylosing spondylitis patients (21 males, 7 females; mean age 33.5 [+ or -] 9.5 years; range 20 to 52 years) were enrolled. Patients' values for before the initiation of biological therapy and mid-term (24 weeks) evaluation were reported. For further evaluation, this initially reported patients were contacted two years after anti-TNF-[alpha] therapy, and their arterial stiffness was assessed by using pulse wave velocity. Results: After two years of anti-TNF-[alpha] therapy, despite the significant improvements in patients' symptoms and clinical activity parameters including Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index score (4.9 [+ or -] 0.9, 1.9 [+ or -] 0.5 and 1.8 [+ or -] 0.9, p=0.0001), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (35.5 [+ or -] 23.1 mm/h, 13.8 [+ or -] 9.2 mm/h and 25.0 [+ or -] 17.9 mm/h, p=0.0001), and C-reactive protein (2.1 [+ or -] 1.6 ng/dL, 0.4 [+ or -] 0.3 ng/dL and 0.6 [+ or -] 0.9 ng/dL p=0.0001), no significant difference was observed in arterial stiffness parameters (7.9 [+ or -] 1.3 meter/second, 7.7 [+ or -] 1.3 meter/second and 8.3 [+ or -] 1.1 meter/second, p=0.620). Conclusion: In line with the previous 24-week evaluation, the results at two-year follow-up indicates that anti-TNF- [alpha] therapy does not improve arterial stiffness in patients with ankylosing spondylitis. Key words: Ankylosing spondylitis; anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha; arterial stiffness; pulse wave velocity.