Exploring the relationship between demographic and disease-related variables and perceived effect of health status on sexual activity in patients with axial spondyloarthritis: associations found only with non-disease variables.

To explore the relationship between demographic and disease-related variables and the perceived effect of health status on sexual activity in patients with axial spondyloarthritis (ax-SpA).The study assessed 379 ax-SpA patients consecutively recruited from two rheumatology outpatient clinics. Data collection included information on demographics, markers and measures of ax-SpA disease, treatment, comorbidity, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) using the Short Form-36. The perceived effect of health status on sexual activity was assessed using question 15 in the HRQoL instrument 15D.The mean age of the patients was 45.6 years, 66.5% were men, 87.3% were human leucocyte antigen-B27 pos…