Gender-related Differences in Peripheral and Axial Spondyloarthritis

Mehmet Tuncay Duruöz¹, Halise Hande Gezer¹, İlknur Aktaş², Servet Akar³, Nilay Şahin⁴, Özgür Akgül⁵, Sami Hizmetli⁶, Meltem Alkan Melikoğlu⁷, Umut Kalyoncu⁸, Erhan Çapkın⁹, fatma Gülçin Ural¹⁰, Figen Yılmaz¹¹, Sebnem ATAMAN¹² and İlhan Sezer¹³, ¹Marmara University Medical School PMR Department, Rheumatology Division, Istanbul, Turkey, ²Istanbul Fatih Sultan Mehmet Training and Research Hospital, PMR, Turkey, Istanbul, Turkey, ³Department of Medicine, Izmir Katip Çelebi University School of Medicine, Izmir, Turkey, ⁴Balikesir University School of Medicine, PMR, Turkey, Balıkesir, Turkey, ⁵Manisa Celal Bayar University School of Medicine, Rheumatology, Turkey, Manisa, Turkey, ⁶Sivas Cumhuriyet University School of Medine, Rheumatology, Turkey, Sivas, Turkey, ⁷Erzurum Atatürk University School of Medicine, Rheumatology, Turkey, Erzurum, Turkey, ⁸Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Hacettepe University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey, Ankara, Turkey, ⁹Karadeniz Teknik University School of Medicine, PMR, Turkey, Trabzon, Turkey, ¹⁰Ankara Yildirim Beyazit University School of Medicine, PMR, Turkey, Ankara, Turkey, ¹¹Istanbul Sisli Etfal Training and Research Hospital, PMR, Turkey, Istanbul, Turkey, ¹²Ankara University School of Medicine, Rheumatology, Turkey, Ankara, Turkey, ¹³Akdeniz University School of Medicine, Rheumatology, Turkey, Antalya, Turkey

Meeting: ACR Convergence 2025

Keywords: Ankylosing spondylitis (AS), Disease Activity, gender, spondyloarthritis, Spondyloarthropathies

Session Information

Date: Tuesday, October 28, 2025

Title: (2305–2337) Spondyloarthritis Including Psoriatic Arthritis – Diagnosis, Manifestations, & Outcomes Poster III

Session Type: Poster Session C

Session Time: 10:30AM-12:30PM

Background/Purpose: This study sought to compare clinical characteristics between female and male patients with spondyloarthritis (SpA) in a Turkish population.

Methods: This study included 489 peripheral and axial SpA patients recruited from different regions of Türkiye in the ASAS-PerSpA study. Demographic and clinical characteristics such as axial involvement, peripheral arthritis, enthesitis, dactylitis, uveitis, psoriasis, and intestinal involvement, and clinometric information including BASDAI, ASDAS, tender joint count, swollen joint count, enthesitis count and FiRST fibromyalgia score were evaluated according to gender.

Results: Of the patients included in the study, 256 were male and 233 were female. The mean age was 40.24 (SD:11.27) years for males and 43.61 (SD:11.01) years for females (p=0.002). Body mass index was 26.23 (SD:3.97) kg/m2 for males and 27.01 (SD:5.58) kg/m2 for females (p=0.006). In axial SpA (n=391), 230 were male and 161 were female (p< 0.001), whereas in peripheral SpA (n=96), 43 were male and 53 were female (p=0.09), and in psoriatic arthritis (n=80), 19 were male and 61 were female (p< 0.001).Back pain with age at onset < 45 years, sacroiliitis on pelvis x-ray, and HLAB27 positivity were more common in males than females (p< 0.05). While axial involvement of SpA was more common in males, past or present arthritis compatible with SpA, peripheral articular disease, spondyloarthritis-related enthesitis, psoriasis, and dactylitis were more common in females (p< 0.05). There were no significant differences between the genders in the uveitis and inflammatory bowel disease. Regarding disease activity tender joint count, dactylitis, enthesitis, BASDAI and ASDAS scores of females were significantly higher than males (p< 0.05). FiRST fibromyalgia score were higher in females (p< 0.001) (Table).

Conclusion: There are some clinical differences according to gender in SpA. In our population, males had higher axial involvement and radiographic sacroiliitis, while females had more peripheral involvement, including arthritis, enthesitis, and dactylitis, as well as a higher prevalence of fibromyalgia and disease activity.

Table. Comparison of Clinical Characteristics According to Gender

Disclosures: M. Duruöz: None; H. Gezer: None; İ. Aktaş: None; S. Akar: None; N. Şahin: None; Ö. Akgül: None; S. Hizmetli: None; M. Alkan Melikoğlu: None; U. Kalyoncu: None; E. Çapkın: None; f. Ural: None; F. Yılmaz: None; S. ATAMAN: None; İ. Sezer: None.

To cite this abstract in AMA style:

Duruöz M, Gezer H, Aktaş İ, Akar S, Şahin N, Akgül Ö, Hizmetli S, Alkan Melikoğlu M, Kalyoncu U, Çapkın E, Ural f, Yılmaz F, ATAMAN S, Sezer İ. Gender-related Differences in Peripheral and Axial Spondyloarthritis [abstract]. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2025; 77 (suppl 9). https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/gender-related-differences-in-peripheral-and-axial-spondyloarthritis/. Accessed .

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