Ankylosing spondylitis clinical registries: principles, practices and possibilities.

The need for a rigorously developed longitudinal registry of patients with spondyloarthritis (SpA) is clear and urgent. Like randomized controlled trials, registries rely on a prospective, systematic protocol-driven approach to data acquisition to assess outcomes for a prescribed cohort of patients. Registries seek to capture large numbers of patients across large geographic zones and can serve as a valuable resource for patient advocacy, patient education and support, incidence and prevalence, and broad demographic profiles. Building on 3 existing registries--the Prospective Study of Outcomes in Ankylosing Spondylitis, the Program to Understand the Longterm Outcomes of Spondyloarthritis (PULSAR) and the University Health Network Spondyloarthritis Program--these registries and the Spondylitis Association of America propose to form a combined registry of North American SpA patients. The combined registry would, ideally, complement ongoing clinical goals and improve patient care.