The importance of changes induced by a complex rehabilitation protocol on clinical and paraclinical parameters in ankylosing spondylitis - pilot study

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory rheumatic disease of un-known aetiology. There are many biomarkers described in the literature that can have an altered value in AS, although there are some biomarkers that are not as intensively studied, such as IGF-1. The main objective of this study is to monitor the therapeutic ef-fects of a complex rehabilitation protocol on functional scales (ASDAS, BASDAI, BASMI, BASFI, SF-36) related to disease activity, pain, mobility, functionality and quality of life of these patients, as well as on serum markers such as platelets, lymphocytes, RDW, PLR, blood glucose, ESR, CRP and IGF-1. The study was carried out at Balneal and Rehabilita-tion Sanatorium of Techirghiol, on 25 patients suffering from ankylosing spondylitis dur-ing a 2 week course of treatment. The patients were assessed at two time intervals, at the beginning and at the end of the treament. The study showed statistically significant changes for BASFI score and in a limited number subscales of the SF-36 questionnaire. The analysed serum biomarkers, although some of them showed positive changes, overall there were no statistically significant changes.This study shows objectively measured im-provements in patients' health status, which shows the impact of combined rehabilitation treatment. More studies are needed on the effects of balneotherapy on patients with anky-losing spondylitis, on larger groups of patients, with longer follow-up periods and better validity. The effects of different types of therapeutic waters and different types of mud could also be studied to form a broader perspective.