О р и г и н а л ь н ы е и с с л е д о в а н и я ФГБНУ «Научноисследовательский институт ревматологии им. В.А. Насоновой»,
О р и г и н а л ь н ы е и с с л е д о в а н и я ФГБНУ «Научноисследовательский институт ревматологии им. В.А. Насоновой»,
Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) more often develops in the 3rd and 4th decade of life when many women think about motherhood. Today, the view which has prevailed since the middle of the 20th century on AS as a male disease has been revised; the male to female ratio for this disease is approaching 1:1, which makes it urgent to study the problem of pregnancy in AS. The review gives the data available in the literature on fertility in AS, the interaction of the latter and pregnancy, and drug therapy during gestation. There is evidence for further investigations to clarify the course of AS, to optimize the assessment of its activity and patients' functional status, to identify markers for an exacerbation of the disease during pregnancy and after childbirth, and to standardize drug therapy when preparing for pregnancy and during the latter.
Inflammatory rhythm back pain and enthesitis are one of the main clinical manifestations of ankylosing spondylitis (AS), which increase in severity during pregnancy. However, addition of back pain and, possibly, enthesis in the second half of gestation, which is associated with normal pregnancy, needs to make a differential diagnosis for clarifying the genesis of pain and choosing the right management tactics, which determines the relevance of this study.Objective: to investigate the course of pain in the back, enthesis, and inguinal region, as well as the functional status in AS patients during pregnancy and to reveal clinical signs that most accurately reflect inflammatory activity during gestation.Patients and methods. A study included 36 pregnant women with a reliable diagnosis of AS according to the modified New York criteria (1984). Their mean age was 31.6±4.8 years, the mean age at the onset of AS was 21.8±10.9 years; the duration of the disease was 134.9±89.3 months. A control group comprised 30 healthy pregnant women with no history of back pain and arthritis; their mean age was 28.2±4.5 years. The pregnant women of both groups were matched for parity. They made visits at 10–11, 20–21, and 31–32 weeks of pregnancy. Pain intensity was estimated using the numerical pain rating scale (NPRS) and the functional status was assessed by the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI). The Maastricht Ankylosing Spondylitis Enthesitis Score (MASES) was used to assess enthesitis.Results and discussion. During pregnancy, 94% of AS patients had back pain; its intensity by trimesters was 3 [2; 4], 4 [3; 5.5], 3 [2; 7] and was higher than in healthy pregnant women (p<0.0001). In the study group, there was a rise in pain intensity at night with increasing gestational age (n=23–28): 2 [1; 4] in the first trimester; 3 [0; 5] II in the second trimester; 3 [1; 6] in the third trimester (p< when comparing the first, second, and third trimesters) and an increase in the duration of morning stiffness (n= ): 10 [5; 20], 15 [10; 55], and 15 [5; 60] min, respectively. Moreover, the number of women who reported improvements after exercise (85–63%) and no improvement at rest (88–56%) declined (p<0.05 when comparing the first, second, and third trimesters).In the control group, 1 and 3 patients had morning back stiffness and night pain, respectively. The healthy pregnant women more frequently reported a reduction in back pain after exercise in the third trimester (66.7% of those with pain) than in the first trimester (20% of those with pain) (p<0.05).By the third trimester, the patients with AS showed a change in the nature of back pain: 43.7% of the patients reported an improvement at rest; 42.4% noted an increase in pain after exercise, while the frequency of elements of mechanical back pain was less than that in the control group (p < 0.05).The intensity of groin pain (2.4±1.9, 3.3±2.4, and 4.3±3.0 in the first, second, and third trimesters, respectively) did not differ in AS patients with and without coxitis or pelvic enthesitis. The frequency of enthesitis and MASES scores in the study group were higher than in the control group (p<0.05), the MASES scores increased with gestational age, amounting to 0 [0; 1] in the first trimester and 2 [0; 3] in the third trimester (p<0.05).Functional disorders during pregnancy increased in both groups; there was a difference in BASFI scores between the groups only in the third trimester: 3.5±2.8 and 1.7±1.2, respectively (p<0.05).Conclusion. Back pain and functional disorders increase in AS patients during gestation. Night back pain, morning stiffness, and enthesitis reflect the inflammatory activity of AS during pregnancy. Mechanical back pain joins in 40% of women with AS in the third trimester. The criteria for inflammatory back pain and BASFI require adaptation when used in pregnant women.
The onset of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) more frequently occurs at the end of the third decade of life, which corresponds to the time of marriage and the birth of the first child and determines the relevance of a study of the interaction of AS and pregnancy.Objective: to describe the clinical presentations of AS and its therapy during pregnancy and to study AS activity dynamics and the patients' functional status during gestation.Patients and methods. The investigation enrolled 19 pregnant women who met the 1984 modified New York AS criteria. The mean age of the women was 32.2±1.1 years; their mean age at the onset of AS was 22.6±3.1 years; the duration of the disease was 147±20.7 months. The patients visited their physician at 10–11, 20–21, and 31–32 weeks of pregnancy. The investigators determined AS activity by the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) and the Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Score (ASDAS) and functional status by the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI) and the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Metrology Index (BASMI). The Maastricht Ankylosing Spondylitis Enthesitis Score (MASES) was used to assess enthesitis.Results and discussion. At the time of conception, 78.9% of the patients had inflammatory back pain with an intensity of 2.2±0.4 on a numerical rating scale; during pregnancy, 95% of the pregnant women experienced pain, its intensity increased by the second trimester (4.6±0.7) and remained at this level in the third trimester (p<0.05 between the month of conception and the second and third trimesters). By the third trimester, the nature of the pain changed: 55.5 and 61.1% of the patients reported reduced pain at rest and after exercise, respectively. The frequency and severity of enthesitis increased with gestational age: the MASES scores were higher in the third trimester (2.3±0.5) than that in the first-trimester (0.4±0.22; p<0.05). The frequency of extra-axial and extra-skeletal manifestations did not increase during gestation. Coxitis was detected in 27.8% of the pregnant women.The BASDAI increased from the time of conception (1.7±0.3) to the second trimester (3.3±0.5; p<0.05) and remained at this level in the third trimester. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the predictors of BASDAI levels in the third trimester were BASDAI scores (R2 =0.7) and back pain (R2 =0.9) at the time of conception, the use of biological agents 3 months before gestation (R2 =0.7) with their cumulative impact. Throughout pregnancy, the BASDAI was determined by a set of factors: the severity of pain in the back (β=0.6) and entheses (β=0.3) and weakness (β=0.6). By the end of the first trimester, the increased BASDAI scores were provided mainly by the higher level of general weakness (by 68.5%) and back pain (by 24.1%). In the second trimester, the higher BASDAI was due to the increased severity of enthesitis (by 30.7%) and back pain (by 27%).There were no changes in ASDAS-C-reactive protein (ASDAS-CRP), but there was its upward tendency in the second trimester as compared with the beginning of pregnancy. The BASMI did not change significantly (1.3±0.9; 1.8±0.2; 2.1±0.3, respectively, for trimesters). The BASFI increased by the third trimester (3.9±0.7) versus the first trimester (1.4±0.3; p<0.05).In the third trimester, this rise was due to difficulties in performing the actions related to both AS activity and pregnancy (forward bends; questions 1, 2, and 4).According to the trimesters, 31.6, 73.7, and 66.7% of the pregnant women took nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. The need for glucocorticoids was noted in 22% of patients in the second trimester and in 53% in the third trimester.Conclusion. The clinical activity of AS is increased by the second trimester of pregnancy and remains moderate and high until the end of gestation. The activity of AS at the time of conception can determine the activity of the disease throughout pregnancy. In the third trimester, mechanical back pain becomes concurrent in half of the patients. Functional impairments increase with gestational age, and this is due to both the activity of AS and pregnancy itself in the third trimester.
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