The effect of three years of TNF alpha blocking therapy on markers of bone turnover and their predictive value for treatment discontinuation in patients with ankylosing spondylitis: a prospective longitudinal observational cohort study

Table 4 Correlations between early change in bone resorption marker sCTX and clinical assessments at last follow-up

	Δ0 to 3 sCTX Z-score
Assessment at last follow-up ^a	correlation	P-value
BASDAI (range 0 to 10)	-0.388	0.000
ASDAS_CRP	-0.463	0.000
Physician's GDA (range 0 to 10)	-0.321	0.001
Patient's GDA (range 0 to 10)	-0.260	0.010
ESR (mm/h)	-0.273	0.006
CRP (mg/l)	-0.288	0.004
BASFI (range 0 to 10)	-0.268	0.008
Chest expansion (cm)	0.260	0.010
Modified Schober test (cm)	-0.031	0.762
Occiput to wall distance (cm)	0.095	0.350
Lateral lumbar flexion L (cm)	0.096	0.346
Lateral lumbar flexion R (cm)	0.169	0.097
ASQoL (range 0 to 18)	-0.296	0.003

Data of 105 AS patients were analyzed.
See Tables 1 and 3 for abbreviations.
^a Defined as at three years of TNF-α blocking therapy or at the moment of treatment discontinuation

ISSN: 1478-6362