Page 88 - SPONDYLOARTHRITIS IN COLOMBIA -

METHODS
Study subjects
Consecutive adult patients with a diagnosis of SpA (n=78) and fulfilling ASAS classification-criteria 12, 13 attending a rheumatology outpatient-clinic in an academic-center for routine care in Colombia were selected. A control group of 156 individuals from the general population (between 18-65 years) matched for gender and age (maximum difference of one year) were enrolled. Healthy individual volunteers were selected from the same hospital or geographical area. All controls were specifically questioned and were excluded from this study if they reported a history of rheumatologic diseases. Exclusion criteria for cases and controls were use of antibiotics during the last 3-months and a history of periodontal or orthodontic therapy. All individuals completed a specific questionnaire addressing medical history, demographics, body mass index (BMI), and smoking. Information related to current and previous treatment was collected. Disease activity in patients with SpA was assessed using the Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Score (ASDAS) for CRP 14. As TNF-alpha has an important role in the pathogenesis of periodontitis and TNF blockers have been considered as a factor that may influence the periodontal condition, all SpA patients included in this study were bDMARD-naive. The institutional ethics-committees approved the study and study subjects provided written informed-consent.
Periodontal assessment
Two trained and calibrated periodontologists with intrareader and interreader agreement ≥0.9 with the standard, performed the periodontal clinical-assessment 15. Periodontologists were blinded to the group category of the individuals (patients or controls) at the time of evaluation. Each patients and/or control was examined by one of both periodontologist, and each periodontologist assessed about half of the patients and controls. Using a North-Carolina® probe (Hu-Friedy PCPUNC-15), a full-mouth examination at six-sites on each permanent tooth was performed. The periodontal variables assessed were as follows: clinical attachment loss (CAL), pocket probing depth (PD), insertion level total mouth, plaque index and gingival index.
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