Ankylosing spondylitis is a disease that also finds women?

The disease we know about ankylosing spondylitis is usually more male patients, and rarely hear of
cases of female patients.

Today we will briefly introduce the disease
of ankylosing spondylitis.

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory disease associated with HLA-B27 of unknown etiology, predominantly
chronic inflammation of the axial joint.
The sacroiliac joint is involved early, the axial skeleton is later involved, and peripheral joints and extraarticular structures can also be affected
.
It belongs to the category of
spondyloarthropathy.
In China, the prevalence rate is about 0.
25%, and the ratio of men to women is about 3:1, so women will also get ankylosing spondylitis
.

The onset of ankylosing spondylitis is mostly slow and insidious onset, and the related symptoms are often noticed in late adolescence or early adulthood, generally reaching a peak
at the age of 20~30.
Symptoms developed after the age of 40 in 5% of patients, and symptoms in these patients are often atypical
.

Ankylosing spondylitis early stage can have no obvious clinical symptoms, some patients manifest mild systemic symptoms, such as long-term or intermittent low-grade fever, fatigue, weight loss, anorexia, mild anemia, etc.
, with the progression of the disease, inflammatory low back pain can occur, the main manifestation of low back pain is dull pain in the lumbosacral region, while the lumbosacral region is accompanied by morning stiffness, weakness and other phenomena
.
These symptoms often subside with activity and are painful at
night.

In addition to joint symptoms, ankylosing spondylitis has some extra-articular symptoms, including (1) Ocular: acute anterior uveitis and iridocyclitis are the most common extra-articular manifestations, occurring in 30% of patients and appearing before joint symptoms
.
(2) Osteoporosis: Osteopenia can appear in the early stage, and the disease progresses to vertebral deformation and intervertebral disc embedding causing posterior protrusion
of the spine.
(3) Cardiovascular disease: Aoritis can be a precursor to
ankylosing spondylitis.
Most patients may have no clinical symptoms of cardiac involvement
.
A small number of patients with aortic regurgitation develop symptoms of congestive heart failure, and most of them have a longer course of disease
.
As mentioned earlier, the cause of ankylosing spondylitis is not very clear, but relevant studies have shown that ankylosing may be related
to genetics, autoimmunity and infection.

Therefore, young men with a family history of ankylosing spondylitis, autoimmune abnormalities, or a history of prior infection are at high risk for
ankylosing spondylitis.
In addition, patients with juvenile onset, smoking, early hip involvement, HLA-B27 positivity, delayed diagnosis, untimely treatment, and nonadherence to long-term functional exercise have a poorer
prognosis.

At present, the treatment of ankylosing spondylitis is mainly based on drug treatment, supplemented
by other treatments.

Drug treatment: At present, the more commonly used treatment drugs in clinical practice are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, immunosuppressants, glucocorticoids and biological agents
.
During the treatment, patients should strictly follow the doctor's instructions, take drugs regularly, and cannot change drugs or dosages
at will.

Physical therapy: For patients with severe pain, auxiliary treatment can be carried out using methods such as medium frequency pulse, fumigation or hyperthermia, which can promote local blood circulation, relax muscles, relieve pain, help joints maintain normal motor function, and avoid deformity
.

Self-management: For patients with ankylosis, appropriate exercise can effectively help relieve symptoms
.
The suitable exercise methods for patients with ankylosing spondylitis are mainly aerobic exercises, such as walking, jogging and tai chi, etc.
, through which the spine can be kept in the best position and conducive to controlling the disease
.