Title:Gait in Patients with Axial Spondyloarthritis: A Systematic Review of the
Literature
Volume: 18
Issue: 2
Author(s): Julie Soulard*, Jacques Vaillant and Nicolas Vuillerme
Affiliation:
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, AGEIS, Grenoble, France
- Grenoble Alpes University Hospital, Grenoble, France
Keywords:
Axial spondyloarthritis, spondyloarthritis, gait, walk, locomotion, six-minute walk test.
Abstract:
Axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) is a chronic inflammatory disease predominantly affecting
the axial skeleton. axSpA includes radiographic (i.e., ankylosing spondylitis (AS)) and non-radiographic
forms (nr-axSpA). Although recent studies have reported that patients with AS have impaired
gait, axSpA’s consequences on gait remain unknown. The present review’s objectives were
to identify: 1) how gait is assessed in patients with axSpA, and 2) what the gait characteristics are
of patients with axSpA.
This systematic review’s protocol was registered in the Prospero database (CRD42020128509).
Three databases were systematically searched using keywords related to axSpA and gait. Two independent
reviewers selected the articles and extracted the data.
The search revealed two hundred titles and abstracts, and two articles were finally included in this
review, comprising a total of 132 patients with axSpA. One of the included studies used the 6 m
maximum gait velocity test (axSpA: 2.2 ± 0.5 m/s), and the other used the six-minute walk test
(axSpA: 414 ± 106 m). Neither study involved a control group to compare gait.
Only two published studies assessed the gait performance of patients with axSpA using clinical
tests. Furthermore, neither of them compared gait performance to healthy controls or differentiated
gait between the AS and nr-axSpA forms of axSPA. The present literature review highlights the
need for future research to learn more about how gait is impaired in different types of patients with
axSpA.
