Clinical, laboratory, and radiological characteristics of patients with late-onset spondylarthritis

Abstract Introduction Spondylarthritis (SpA) is a chronic inflammatory disease that rarely began after 50 years of age. Aim of the work: To investigate the clinical, laboratory, and radiological characteristics of late-onset SpA (LOSpA) and compare them to early-onset (EOSpA). Patients and methods: A single-center cross-sectional study included 117 SpA patients and those with their initial symptoms starting after the age of 50 years were considered late-onset. Results: There were 102 patients (87.2%) with EOSpA and 15 (12.8%) with LOSpA. The mean age at onset for the EOSpA and LOSpA groups was 28.6 ± 9.1 and 54.5 ± 2.9 respectively. Female sex and presence of comorbidities were more associated with older age at onset (p = 0.03 and p = 0.008, respectively). Delay in diagnosis was shorter in the LOSpA group (p = 0.05), and they had less alternating buttock pain and hip involvement at onset of the disease (p = 0.005 and p