Central Obesity in Axial Spondyloarthropathy: the Missing Link to Understanding Worse Outcomes in Women?

OBJECTIVE: To determine i) the prevalence of central obesity in axSpA and impact on disease related outcomes and ii) how this differs between sexes. METHODS: Data was extracted from the Ankylosing Spondylitis Registry of Ireland (ASRI). Patients with physical measurements for calculation of anthropometric measures were included. Body mass index (BMI) and waist to hip ratio (WtHpR) were used to compare classification of obesity. Comparison analyses based on sex and central obesity were carried out. Multivariate analysis examined impact of these factors on patient reported outcome: BASDAI, BASFI, ASQoL and HAQ. RESULTS: In total, 753 patients were included in the analysis. 29.6% (223) patients were obese based on BMI, while 41.3% (311) were centrally obese as per WtHpR. Prevalence of central obesity was significantly higher in axSpA females (71.6% vs 29.9%, p