The effects of preobesity to the quality of life in patients with ankylosing spondylitis

The Effects of Preobesity to Quality of Life in Patients with AS Objective; Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a prototype of disease of spondyloarthropathies which is chronic and charactarized by inflammation. As in many chronic diseases, quality of life is affected negatively by the disease in patients with ankylosing spondylitis. Body Mass Index (BMI), total body fat which is correlated with the weight is found by weight divided by square of height (weight (kg) / height (m²)). This method is currently the most commonly used methods. In this study we aimed to investigate the factors that affect quality of life in patients with AS. Method; 28 patients, diagnosed AS according to the Modified New York Criteria, who applied to Inonu University Medical Faculty Physical Theraphy and Rehabilitation clinic were included in the study and control group was selected as 30 healthy adults. The patients were matched with the control group by age, gender, body mass index (BMI), education and work status. The disease activity was measured by Bath AS disease activity index (BASDAI) and functional status was measured by Bath AS functional index (BASFI). ASQoL was used to evaluate the quality of life of patients with AS, Short Form - 36 (SF-36) was carried out to the patients by comparing with the control group. Conclusion; High BMI in patients with AS is one of the factors which affecting the quality of life. In which area of life is found to be affected we believe that it would be in terms of guiding strategies. Discussion; High Body Mass Index (BMI) and low education status have been determined as the factors that affect the quality of life in patients with AS. Besides, we observed that BASDAI values were higher in women patients. Compared to the control group, the quality of life were worse in patients with AS. We have observed there was a meaningful correlation between increases BASFI scores and high BMI in patient with AS. Key words: Ankylosing Spondylitis, body mass index (BMI), preobesity, quality of life