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Ankylosing SpondylitisNCT04809168

Neuropathic Spinal Pain in Ankylosing Spondylitis

An observational study of Ankylosing Spondylitis, run by Bozyaka Training and Research Hospital at 1 site in Turkey (Türkiye).

Active, not recruiting

Under way, not looking for participants. Everyone needed has enrolled. The study is still running.

Official record
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Trial summary

The aim of this study is to investigate prevalence of neuropathic spinal pain in AS patients and it's impact on sleep quality. Moreover effects of neuropathic pain on quality of life and fatigue will be assessed. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 18 to 70 years
Conditions the study is for
Ankylosing Spondylitis
What is being tested?
Questionnaires and inventories
How many people
292 participants
Where
1 siteTurkey (Türkiye)
Study dates
6 Apr 2021to 2 May 2027
Phase
Observational
Are there results?
Not yet: the study is under way

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 18 to 70 years
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Adult, Older adult

Study population: AS patients and age- and sex-matched control subjects will be chosen among individuals submitting to our out-patient clinic with nociceptive/mechanical pain complaint lasting more than three months.

Who may be able to join

  • Being diagnosed with AS according to the 1984 Modified New York Criteria
  • Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) spinal pain score ≥ 2

Who cannot join

  • Diabetes mellitus, renal insufficiency, hypothyroidism
  • Carpal tunnel syndrome, postherpetic neuralgia, spinal cord compression
  • Neurological diseases leading to neuropathic pain
  • Cervical and lumbar radiculopathy
  • Fibromyalgia
  • Malignancy
Show all 11Show fewer
  • Severe cardiac disease
  • Pregnancy
  • Muscle weakness or hypoesthesia indicating peripheral nerve injury
  • In the last three months medical treatment leading to neuropathy (colchicine etc.)
  • In the last three months drug use for the treatment of fibromyalgia, depression and anxiety

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

Turkey (Türkiye)1 site
  • Izmir Bozyaka Training and Research Hospital

    Izmir

Other trials in Turkey (Türkiye)

About this study

Official title: Prevalence of Spinal Neuropathic Pain in Ankylosing Spondylitis Patients and it's Impact on Sleep Quality: a Case-control Study

The aim of this study is to investigate prevalence of neuropathic spinal pain in AS patients and it's impact on sleep quality. Moreover effects of neuropathic pain on quality of life and fatigue will be assessed.

Read the detailed description

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic, inflammatory rheumatic disease that mainly presenting with chronic back pain. In general, chronic low back pain is currently defined as a mixed pain including nociceptive and neuropathic properties. Nociceptive pain in several rheumatic diseases displays neuropathic characteristics over time. Patients with AS are suffered from spinal, entheseal pain or pain originated from peripheral and root joints. Although being scarce, there are trials investigating and reporting neuropathic component of spinal pain in axial spondyloarthritis/ankylosing spondylitis patients. However these trials either are not controlled or did not specify painful region of interest. In a few controlled trials control subjects were not defined clearly.

Sleep problems are reported to be prevalent among patients with chronic pain conditions such as inflammatory rheumatic diseases and fibromyalgia. In patients with ankylosing spondylitis sleep disturbance is a well defined issue. The fact that sleep problem is a common problem in AS, raises the need to explore it's associates. In the trials measuring spinal neuropathic pain, sleep disturbances and it's association with neuropathic pain were not assessed.

So, investigators have aimed to investigate prevalence of neuropathic spinal pain in AS patients and it's impact on sleep quality. For this purpose a case-control study design was planned. Age- and sex-matched control subjects will be chosen among individuals submitted to out-patient clinic with nociceptive/mechanical pain complaint lasting more than three months. Participants in control group will be subjected to same exclusion criteria too.

This design will allow the investigators to determine whether spinal pain in AS patients displays neuropathic character more frequently than any chronic nociceptive pain does.

Being tested
Questionnaires and inventories
Medical subject headings
Spondylitis, Ankylosing

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • Questionnaires and inventoriesOther

    Also called physical examination

    questionnaires and inventories related to primary end secondary outcomes will be applied and physical examination will be performed.

Study groups in NCT04809168
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
AS patientsAS patients diagnosed according to the modified New York criteria
Receives: Other: Questionnaires and inventories
ControlAge- and sex-matched control subjects with nociceptive/mechanical pain complaint lasting more than three months
Receives: Other: Questionnaires and inventories

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Neuropathic pain

    It will be assessed using the PainDETECT questionnaire. This questionnaire contains nine questions all of which are self-report. Seven items are rated on a six point Likert scale and thus are scored between 0-5. These seven questions query some sensations such as burning, tingling or prickling, allodynia, numbness etc. Apart from these seven items, one item assesses the radiation of pain and the other one item looks for the temporal characteristics of pain. A total score of 12 or less indicates neuropathic component is unlikely, 13-18 means possible neuropathic component and 19 or greater means a neuropathic component is likely. Beside these, there are three items in a separate section measuring severity of pain at the time of evaluation, on average and maximum over the past month. This section is not taken into account in scoring

    Measured: Once, at baseline

  2. Sleep quality

    It will be assessed using Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). It was developed by Buysse and coworkers in 1989. This index measures sleep quality quantitatively and covers 24 questions. Nineteen questions are self-rated and scoring is based on these self-rated questions, other five questions that rating by partner are not taken into account while calculating total score. Questionnaire measures seven domains; subjective sleep quality (question 6), sleep latency (question 2 and 5a), sleep duration (question 4), habitual sleep efficiency (question 1,3,4), sleep disturbances (question 5b-j), use of sleep medication (question 7), and daytime dysfunction (question 8 and 9) over the last month. Seven domain scores give a result on a 0 to 3 scale. To yield a total score the domain scores are summed. Total score varies between 0 and 21. Higher scores indicate worse sleep quality.

    Measured: Once, at baseline

Secondary outcomes (2)
  1. Health related quality of life

    Health related quality of life will be assessed using (Ankylosing Spondylitis Quality of Life Questionnaire (ASQoL) querying symptoms, functioning, and disease-related concern. It covers 18 dichotomous questions that ask participants to answer in a yes or no fashion. An answer of "yes" is assumed as one point. To get a final score, all points are summed. Thus, total score is between 0-18 and higher scores indicate worse quality of life.

    Measured: Once, at baseline

  2. Fatigue

    It will be assessed using Fatigue Severity Scale. This scale contains nine questions and measures fatigue severity during the past week. Each question is rated between 1 (strongly disagree)-7 (strongly disagree). Total score is mean of all To calculate total score first the points of all answers are summed and then the result is divided by nine. Higher scores indicate severe fatigue

    Measured: Once, at baseline

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted22 Mar 2021
  2. Study start6 Apr 2021
  3. Primary completion2 Nov 2024
  4. Study completion2 May 2027 (estimated)

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Observational
Observational model
Case-control
Time perspective
Cross-sectional
Enrolment
292 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT04809168
Sponsor's protocol ID
46418926TK
Status last verified
Nov 2026
First submitted
19 Mar 2021
Last updated
4 Nov 2026
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No

Publications

  • Aydin E, Bayraktar K, Turan Y, Omurlu I, Tastaban E, Sendur OF. [Sleep quality in patients with ankylosing spondylitis]. Rev Bras Reumatol. 2015 Jul-Aug;55(4):340-5. doi: 10.1016/j.rbr.2014.12.007. Epub 2015 Feb 9. Portuguese.

    PubMed 25772656
  • Geler-Kulcu D, Batibay S, Ozturk G, Mesci N. The association of neuropathic pain and disease activity, functional level, and quality of life in patients with ankylosing spondylitis: a cross-sectional study. Turk J Med Sci. 2018 Apr 30;48(2):257-265. doi: 10.3906/sag-1707-147.

    PubMed 29714437
  • Choi JH, Lee SH, Kim HR, Lee KA. Association of neuropathic-like pain characteristics with clinical and radiographic features in patients with ankylosing spondylitis. Clin Rheumatol. 2018 Nov;37(11):3077-3086. doi: 10.1007/s10067-018-4125-z. Epub 2018 Apr 30.

    PubMed 29713968
  • Wu Q, Inman RD, Davis KD. Neuropathic pain in ankylosing spondylitis: a psychophysics and brain imaging study. Arthritis Rheum. 2013 Jun;65(6):1494-503. doi: 10.1002/art.37920.

    PubMed 23460087
  • Li Y, Zhang S, Zhu J, Du X, Huang F. Sleep disturbances are associated with increased pain, disease activity, depression, and anxiety in ankylosing spondylitis: a case-control study. Arthritis Res Ther. 2012 Oct 11;14(5):R215. doi: 10.1186/ar4054.

    PubMed 23058191

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

An observational study of Ankylosing Spondylitis, run by Bozyaka Training and Research Hospital at 1 site in Turkey (Türkiye).

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 2 inclusion and 11 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: under way, not looking for participants, as of the sponsor's last update on 4 Nov 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in Turkey (Türkiye). Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Neuropathic pain (time frame: Once, at baseline). The study lists 2 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT04809168, which also lists 5 linked publications.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 4 Nov 2026.

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