Treatment
Table 6. Education and Preventive Care
Evidence
Quality
a
e ACR conditionally recommends participation in formal group or
individual self-management education.
Moderate
e ACR conditionally recommends fall evaluation and counseling. Very Low
e ACR conditionally recommends screening for osteopenia/
osteoporosis with DXA scanning over no screening.
Very Low
e ACR strongly recommends against screening for cardiac conduction
defects with electrocardiograms.
Very Low
e ACR strongly recommends against screening for valvular heart
disease with echocardiograms.
Very Low
With syndesmophytes or spinal fusion
e ACR conditionally recommends screening for osteoporosis/
osteopenia with DXA scanning of the spine as well as the hips, compared
to DXA scanning solely of the hip or other non-spine sites.
Very Low
a
See Table 10 for GRADE Scores of Quality of Evidence.
Table 7. Pharmacological Treatment of Active Non-radiographic
Axial SpA
Evidence
Quality
a
In adults with active non-radiographic axial SpA despite treatment with NSAIDs
e ACR conditionally recommends treatment with tumor necrosis
factor inhibitors (TNFi) compared to no treatment with TNFi.
Moderate
a
See Table 10 for GRADE Scores of Quality of Evidence.
