Spondyloarthritis & psoriatic arthritis
Known and less well-known comorbidities in axial spondyloarthritis: what are we overlooking? Results from the SPARTAKUS cohort
Authors' conclusion
axSpA is linked to several comorbidities, whereas no difference was observed between nr-axSpA and r-axSpA.
Study context
- Population
- Axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) patients from the SPARTAKUS cohort (55% men; mean age/disease duration 52/26 years), Sweden
- Participants
- 246 axSpA patients
- Exposure
- axSpA vs matched general population comparators; nr-axSpA vs r-axSpA
- axSpAn = 246
- nr-axSpAn = 82
- r-axSpAn = 164
- Outcome
- Prevalences of 59 comorbidities from ICD-10 diagnosis registrations in primary/specialized care
- Follow-up
- 10 year period preceding SPARTAKUS inclusion
Methodological detailsmatched to general population comparators (five/patient), ICD-10 register data, 10 year period preceding inclusion, logistic regression, controlled for multiple comparisons
- Matched to general population comparators (five/patient)
- ICD-10 register data, 10 year period preceding inclusion
- Logistic regression
- Controlled for multiple comparisons
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Comorbidity prevalences, axSpA vs comparators (significantly higher in axSpA)
- Anterior uveitis, axSpA vs comparators
- 28% vs 1%
- IBD, axSpA vs comparators
- 10%/1%
- Psoriasis, axSpA vs comparators
- 10%/3%
- Ischaemic heart disease, axSpA vs comparators
- 7%/3%
- FM/chronic pain, axSpA vs comparators
- 12%/3%
- Nephrolithiasis, axSpA vs comparators
- 8%/3%
- Gastritis (NSAID side-effect), axSpA vs comparators
- 21%/10%
- Hypertension (NSAID side-effect), axSpA vs comparators
- 31%/19%
- Cataract (GC side-effect), axSpA vs comparators
- 11%/7%
- Glaucoma (GC side-effect), axSpA vs comparators
- 7%/3%
- Osteoporosis/vertebral compression (GC side-effect), axSpA vs comparators
- 4%/1%
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Charlson Comorbidity Index excluding rheumatic disease
- No significant between-group difference (patients/comparators)
Original publication
Known and less well-known comorbidities in axial spondyloarthritis: what are we overlooking? Results from the SPARTAKUS cohort. Scand J Rheumatol. Published 1 September 2025. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →