TY - JOUR T1 - Long term administration of anti-TNFα in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients - A post-hoc analysis JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 42 IS - Suppl 57 SP - 1799 AU - Charalampos Mandros AU - Dimitrios Ntelios AU - Ioanna Tassiou AU - Pavlos Malindretos AU - Evangelos Potolidis AU - George Tzelepis Y1 - 2013/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/42/Suppl_57/1799.abstract N2 - Introduction:Administration of biologic agents in AS patients is accompanied by a rapid- in the first 2 months-improvement of the clinical parameters associated with the disease itself. Thoraco-abdominal configuration is also improved in the first 3 months of treatment with antiTNFa.Objectives:We tested the hypothesis that long term administration of antiTNFa agents remains also beneficial to PFTs in AS.Methods:We performed a post-hoc analysis of 44 AS patients and we divided them into 2 similar age groups: to those without treatment and to those with at least 3 months on anti-TNF. Data from spirometry, lung volumes, and respiratory induction plethysmography were collected for further analysis.Results:Our results are depicted at Table 1.View this table:Mean (±SD) data in two groupsAnti-TNFα was administered for 28,43 months (±19,81).Muscle strength was better in second group( p=0,84 for MIPact%pred, p=0,05112 for SNIPact%pred and p=0,059 for MEPact%pred).Plethysmography data were inconclusive.Conclusions:We compared 2 similar groups of AS patients and even if the second group had a longer disease duration, muscle strength data were better, showing that administration of antiTNFa may be is associated with a sustained improvement of respiratory parameters.Further cohort studies are needed for more robust results. ER -