Affective temperament profile in ankylosing spondylitis patients using TEMPS-A.
Tulay Yildirim, Dilek Solmaz, Murat Emul and 3 others
PMID 28356618WHAT IT FOUND
People with ankylosing spondylitis did not differ from healthy controls in depressive, cyclothymic, hyperthymic, irritable, or anxious temperament scores.
Anxiety questionnaire scores were higher in patients, and anxious temperament was linked to higher pain and worse quality-of-life scores.
Key findings
01TEMPS-A temperament scores did not differ significantly between the AS group and the healthy control group.
02Beck Anxiety Inventory scores were higher in the AS group than in controls.
03Anxious temperament scores were positively correlated with pain and ASQoL scores.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study compared groups at one time point, so it cannot show that temperament causes pain, anxiety, disease activity, or quality-of-life differences. The sample was relatively small, with 51 patients and 42 controls. The paper reports many secondary correlations, but does not say how these were adjusted, so some associations may be chance findings. Self-report measures were used for temperament, depression, anxiety, pain, function, and quality of life. The paper did not test an intervention, so it cannot tell therapists whether addressing temperament or anxiety improves AS outcomes. The gender results are unclear because the text says females had higher anxious temperament and BAI scores, while Table 4 shows higher male values. The text and Table 5 disagree about whether irritable temperament was positively or negatively correlated with duration of symptoms.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that ankylosing spondylitis causes a distinct affective temperament or that treating temperament will reduce pain. The temperament scores did not differ significantly from controls, and the study only measured associations at one time point.