Increased proportion of comorbidities but no deterioration of sexual quality of life during a 5-year follow-up in patients with axial spondyloarthritis in the biologic treatment era.

Abstract Objective To explore patient perception of sexual quality of life (SQOL), an important category of QOL, in male and female patients with axial SpA (axSpA) after a 5 year follow-up. Methods A broad spectrum of demographic, disease-related, treatment and SQOL data was collected at baseline and at the 5 year follow-up. SQOL was assessed by the SQOL-Female (SQOL-F) questionnaire. For statistical analysis, McNemar’s tests, paired t-tests and multiple regression analyses were applied. Results A total of 245 axSpA patients (168 men and 77 women) from outpatient clinics were examined (mean age 46 years, mean disease duration 11.9 years at baseline). Compared with baseline, the patients had…