Ankylosing spondylitis: how should the disease be assessed?

The four clinical features of spondyloarthropathy, i.e. axial involvement, peripheral articular involvement, enthesopathy and extra-articular features, must be assessed in each patient suffering from spondyloarthropathy at each visit. The ASsessment in Ankylosing Spondylitis working group is establishing recommendations to facilitate the short- and long-term monitoring of patients suffering from spondyloarthropathies. Several relevant instruments are available for assessing the main domains, allowing evaluation of such patients - for example, pain, functional disability and spinal mobility. Other investigations are required in order to obtain relevant instruments for other domains, such as structural severity.