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Introduction: Paget bone disease (PBD) is characterized by a disorder in the bone remodeling activity at sites of involvement. This can produce dramatic alterations of local bone architecture and causes most of the complications. We aimed to focus on the characteristics of complications of PDB among hospitalized patients. Material and Methods: A retrospective study was conducted, on PBD patients hospitalized in two rheumatology centers from 1994 to 2019. Characteristics of the PBD complications were studied. Results: Sixty-nine patients were collected with a sex ratio of 0.76 and a mean age of 75.4±6.4 years [43-101]. The diagnosis of PBD was established in the average age of 64.2±11.5 years. The primary reason for consultation was pain (78.3%). The PBD was localized in the pelvis (58%), lower limb (42%), spine (36.2%), skull (23.2%) and upper limb (5.8%). It was polyostotic in 44.9% of cases. Dosage of ALP was 324 [68-8390]. The PDB complication rate was 52.2% and it decreased over time. The main complication was osteoarthritis (23.2%), followed by deafness (17.4%), fracture (15.9%), hydrocephalus (7.2%), neurological disease (7.2%) and osteosarcoma (1.4%). The presence of complications was significantly associated with the polyostotic form (p=0.01), the skull localization (p=0.04), an increased ALP (p=0.02). Conclusion: According to our study, the incidence rate of PBD among hospitalized cases is higher among elderly women and decreases over time. Complications related to PDB are frequent (52%). It concerns patients with a polyostotic form, skull localization and high ALP.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

When faced with a patient with acute myelopathy, thorough investigations should be undertaken to determine the cause. Ankylosing spondylitis should be kept in mind as a possible cause.

Context: Paget's disease of bone is a common bone disease with a striking variation in its incidence and characteristics in different parts of the world. It is uncommonly reported in African patients. Aims: Given the lack of studies describing the characteristics of patients with Paget's disease of bone in North Africa, we aimed to describe demographic, clinical, biochemical, and imaging characteristics, as well as treatment outcomes of Tunisian patients with Paget's disease of bone. Subjects and Methods: This bicentric and retrospective study included patients with Paget's disease of bone. Clinical, laboratory, radiological profile, and response to treatment were analyzed. Results: Sixty-nine patients were identified. The mean age was 64.9 ± 11.6 years and 52.2% were women. One patient reported a positive family history. Seven patients were asymptomatic. Bone pain was the most common presenting symptom. Eight patients had a history of malignancy. In three patients, Paget's disease of bone was diagnosed as part of a metastatic workup. Monostotic disease was found in half of the cases. The most commonly involved sites were pelvis (43.5%), femur (21.7%), and spine (21.7%). The mean serum alkaline phosphatase level at presentation was 591 U/L (68–8380). Two patients received salmon calcitonin (2.8%) and 47 patients (68.1%) received bisphosphonates. After a mean follow-up of 55 months (2–240 months), bone pain improved in 43.1% of patients and the serum alkaline phosphate levels had normalized in 22 of them (43.1%). During follow-up, there was no malignant transformation. Conclusions: In this series of Tunisian patients, Paget's disease of bone had a female predominance and was usually monostotic. The clinical and radiological presentations were similar to the European series.

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Background: C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) are routinely used to assess disease activity in spondyloarthritis. New biomarkers have been reported, such as neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR), CRP to albumin ratio (CAR), and albumin to fibrinogen ratio (AFR). Our study aimed to assess these ratios in spondyloarthritis and to determine the relationship between these ratios and the disease activity. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study, including patients with spondyloarthritis. The following ratios were calculated: PLR, NLR, AFR, and CAR. Pearson correlation analysis was carried out to test the correlation of the data. Receiver operating characteristic curves were evaluated for each ratio using ASDASCRP as the gold standard for disease activity. Results: Eighty-five patients were included. The sex ratio was 60 males to 25 females. The mean age was 42.58 ± 11.75 years. There was a positive correlation between the PLR and the following parameters: CAR, CRP, and ESR. A negative correlation was found between AFR and the following ratios: PLR, NLR, CRP, and ESR. The ASDAS correlated negatively with AFR and positively with both PLR and CAR. The cut-offs values of CAR and PLR to distinguish patients with very high disease activity (ASDASCRP>3.5) were 0.442 and 173.64, respectively. Conclusions: Given their good correlation with ESR and CRP, we suggest that PLR, CAR, and AFR can be used as potential indicators of inflammation in spondyloarthritis. The CAR and PLR are useful to identify patients with very high disease activity.

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