We aimed to assess patients with axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) for disease activity and serum markers of endothelial dysfunction .
We studied 161 patients (123 males, 38 females) with axSpA: 153 with ankylosing spondylitis and 8 with non-radiographic axSpA, and 30 healthy controls (HC). We collected: age; sex; disease duration; extra-articular symptoms (IBD and acute anterior uveitis), comorbidities; human leukocyte antigen B27 status; and treatment. We measured serum interleukin (IL)-6, interleukin-18, IL-23, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) epidermal growth factor (EGF), asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), endothelin-1 (ET-1), and fetuin-A levels.
IBD was diagnosed in 19 (11.8%) patients with axSpA. Compared to patients with axSpA without IBD, those with IBD had higher serum C-reactive protein (CRP) level ( p = 0.05), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) ( p = 0.005), and serum ET-1 levels ( p = 0.01). In patients with axSpA and IBD, ET-1 levels correlated positively with CRP level ( p = 0.006) and ESR ( p = 0.02), and ADMA levels with visual analog scale scores ( p = 0.01). Patients with axSpA and IBD had higher serum levels of IL-6 ( p = 0.01), IL-18 ( p = 0.005), and ADMA ( p = 0.01) and lower serum levels of fetuin-A ( p = 0.01) than did controls.