Ankylosing Spondylitis In Women

In the past, experts believed ankylosing spondylitis (AS) affected men more than women. Now, experts know the exact same thing happens to women.

This form of arthritis is most common in younger adults. The treatment, symptoms , and process of diagnosis are not the same.

Is it different for women?

Experts have conducted many studies to determine how best to treat this form of arthritis. Although it may act in the same way for everyone, there are key differences.

How long it takes for a diagnosis to be made. AS, which is a type of spondyloarthritis that can cause inflammation of your spine and joints, is called a delay in diagnosis. A study showed that men take 6 1/2 years to receive a diagnosis of spondyloarthritis after the condition has begun. It takes nearly 9 years for women.

Another data revealed that spondyloarthritis was more common in men than it is in women 7 months earlier.

Researchers found that the delay in developing AS is not due to differences between symptoms. It is not the age that causes AS, as AS can occur in men and woman at different times of their lives.

Instead, experts believe the delay in diagnosis for females is linked to bias.

Women may receive medical treatment from different doctors. It can impact their ability to diagnose and treat the correct conditions. You might find that your doctor downplays your symptoms, or says you have side effects from another illness.

A misdiagnosis is possible. Axial-spondyloarthritis, also known as axSpA, is one type of spondyloarthritis. AS falls under this group. One study found that nearly 25% of females with axSpA were misdiagnosed at first.

Misdiagnosis is when your doctor incorrectly diagnosed you as having a disease other than the one you actually have. Your symptoms may look similar to those in axSpa. However, your doctor could have missed important differences.

The same study found that females with axSpA had widespread pain as a symptom. This study found that these people were often mistakenly diagnosed with fibromyalgia by doctors. The symptoms of axSpA are similar, including widespread pain in bones or other areas.

Radiographic damage. The doctor will be able to measure radiographic damage using scans such as X-rays. This is the damage to your AS-related joint erosion.

Many studies found that women had more progress on these scans than men. Because of this, it appears that males have a faster rate of AS progression than females.

This doesn't necessarily mean that spondyloarthritis will be worse for men. It is just that men show greater signs . However, disease activity, impairment and pain for both men and women are almost the same.

Symptoms. Some research has shown that women are more susceptible than men to develop axSpA symptoms beyond their joints. But others didn't find any difference between these symptoms in males and females.

The condition of acute anterior uveitis can cause severe pain and even vision loss. This is the most prevalent symptom that's not related to spondyloarthritis. One study found it's more common in females than males. Different studies have disagreed on this. Some studies found that it is more noticeable in males.

Enthesitis refers to inflammation in your entheses. These are the areas where your ligaments or tendons insert into your bones. Doctors see this symptom more often in females with spondyloarthritis than in males with the condition. Women are more likely to develop enthesitis.

Different and often more intense symptoms may explain why the severity of AS is often worse in females than males.

You may also have other conditions. Certain comorbidities might also be common for AS-suffering women. A condition that you are also affected by AS is called a comorbidity.

Studies suggest that females with spondyloarthritis have higher rates of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) than males with the same condition.

Research also showed that women suffering from axSpA have more psoriasis symptoms than those who do not suffer from the condition.

The severity of your disease activity. Multiple studies show that women experience more pain with axSpA and have an overall harder time using it.

Your AS disease activity can be measured using the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index. Studies using this index found females had more fatigue, back pain, and longer periods of morning stiffness.

What your body does to the treatment. The treatment of axSpA is less effective for women than it is for men, according to experts.

In past studies, there weren't many females who looked into treatment options for AS. But as experts begin to pay more attention to gender differences within AS, they see the large gap in treatment success for males and females.

AS patients are more likely than men to abandon their treatment regimens.

It could be because their treatment is not as successful. People with shorter durations of disease and less severe enthesitis are more likely to be treated. Women are less likely to experience either of these.

For women to benefit from AS therapy, researchers need to conduct more research.

It can affect your overall quality of living. Studies have shown that AS patients are less satisfied with their lives than those who don't.

However, there weren't any significant differences in the quality of life between women and men. It was also revealed that, even though AS inflammation can be controlled equally in women and men by doctors, women tend to have a poorer quality of living than their male counterparts.