Association Between Disease Activity and C-reactive Protein to Serum Albumin Ratio in Patients with Ankylosing Spondylitis

Background and objectives: Ankylosing spondylitis is a persistent inflammatory rheumatic condition that predominantly affects the axial skeleton. The current research aims to assess the correlation between disease activity and the C-reactive protein to serum albumin ratio among individuals diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis. Patients and methods: This cross-sectional study was undertaken at Sulaymaniyah Shahid Hemn Teaching Hospital. The study encompassed a cohort comprising 100 patients who were diagnosed as ankylosing spondylitis. The study was conducted between December 2022 and August 2023. By referring to the patients' medical files and by assessing the disease activity using bath ankylosing spondylitis disease activity index and ankylosing spondylitis disease activity score required data were gathered. Results: The patients' age ranged from 20 to 60 years, and (70%) were males. The most common comorbidities included sacroiliitis in (100%) of the patients, enthesitis in (39%) of them, peripheral arthritis in (37%) of them, and dactylitis in (20%) of them. All of the patients received anti-tumor necrosis factor therapy, (21%) and (6%) also received NSAID and DMARD treatments, respectively. CRP/S. albumin CAR was found to have statistically significant relationships with BASDAI and ASDAS scores (p-value<0.001) but not with HLAB27 (p-value=0.46). It was also found that CRP/S. albumin CAR had significant correlations with BASDAI scores (p-value=0.03) and ASDAS scores (p-value<0.001). Conclusion: C-reactive protein-to-serum albumin ratio can be utilized as a reliable indicator to assess disease activity in individuals diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis.