Effect of azithromycin on ankylosing spondylitis / 实用医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the clinical effect of azithromycin on ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Methods Sixty-four AS patients with active disease were enrolled in this study. Among them, thirty-two AS patients (treatment group)received Azithromycin treatment at a dose of 0.5 g once a day for a period of 5~7 days , and another thirty-two patients receiving conventional treatment served as control (control group). BASDAI, CRP and ESR served as the disease activity evaluation index. Results Activity indexes in two groups of in the first 4~ 20 weeks of the treatment were decreased compared with those before the treatment (P < 0.05), while a rise was found in the 20 ~ 24 week and activity indexes gradually returned to pretreatment levels. At 0 ~ 16 weeks , the disease activity index of treatment group was below normal levels but that of control group was higher than the normal level with significant difference (P < 0.05). Conclusion The treatment of Azithromycin can control the disease activity of AS in the long term, which would be a new proposal in AS treatment.