Background: Spondyloarthritis (SpA) is a frequent group of chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases, their epidemiology varies considerably in different regions of the world.

Objectives: The aim of our study was to describe the epidemiological, clinical, paraclinical and therapeutic profile of SpA in the Moroccan population.

Methods: This is a multicenter descriptive study, including patients followed for SpA. 8 hospital centers participated in this study. All data were measured by standard instruments.

Results: Seven hundred patients were included, 54% were men, the mean age was 40.42±14.19 years at the time of diagnosis [14 years-90 years]. The patients lived in urban and rural areas in 83.5% and 13.8% of cases, respectively. 38.4% were without occupation. A history of tuberculosis was noted in 5.9% of cases. Associated pathologies were autoimmune in 2.3% and neoplasia in 1.5% of cases. 15.6% of patients were smokers. A family history of SpA was noted in 11.7%, psoriasis in 1% and Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in 0.6% of cases. The average diagnostic delay was 59.76 months [0-444 months]. The revealing symptomatology was axial in 19%, peripheral in 10.1%, enthesitis in 0.4%, and a combination of the 3 forms in 22.1% of cases. Dactylitis was noted in 2.3% of cases. SpA was non-radiographic in 14% of cases. The forms of SpA were: ankylosing spondylitis (80.1%), IBD associated with SpA (9.4%), psoriatic arthritis (6%), and undifferentiated SpA (4%). Juvenile SpA accounted for 15.5% of cases. The prevalence of HLA-B27 was 65.51%. The mean BASDAI (Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index) was 4.42 ± 1.67 and the mean ASDAS (Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Score) was 3.19 ± 1.24. Systemic involvement was dominated by uveitis (11.3%), followed by IBD (9.4%), restrictive syndrome (2.7%), renal involvement (0.6%) including amyloidosis (0.1%), IgA nephropathy (0.4%), interstitial nephropathy (0.1%), and aortic insufficiency in 0.2% of cases. The most commonly used treatments were non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (81.7%), sulfasalazine (24.2%), methotrexate (22.9%) and 31.8% of patients were on biotherapy. Surgery for arthroplasty was necessary in 5.6% of patients.

Conclusion: This is a study of the clinical and demographic characteristics of Spondyloarthritis in a population in Morocco, on which a large scale data base could be initiated, in order to better determine the role of genetic and environmental factors in the pathogenesis of the disease.

REFERENCES:

[1]Sharip A, Kunz J. Understanding the Pathogenesis of Spondyloarthritis. Biomolecules. 2020 Oct 20;10(10):1461.

[2]Slimani S, Hamdi W, Nassar K, Kalla AA. Spondyloarthritis in North Africa: an update. Clin Rheumatol. 2021 Sep;40(9):3401-10.

[3]Wang R, Ward MM. Epidemiology of axial spondyloarthritis: an update. Current Opinion in Rheumatology. 2018 Mar;30(2):137-43.

Disclosure of Interests: None declared