Cervical spine (c-spine) fracture is a leading cause of in-hospital mortality in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients admitted to the hospital, according to a recent study. Researchers abstracted data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project-Nationwide Inpatient Sample (HCUP-NIS) between 2007 and 2011. They found:

•Within that time period, there were 12,484 admissions and 267 deaths in AS patients.

• C-spine fracture with spinal cord injury and sepsis had the highest odds (OR) of death, 13.43 and 7.63, respectively.

• There were 53,606 c-spine fracture admissions of which 408 were coded with AS.

• Among all c-spine fracture hospitalizations, an AS diagnosis was associated with in-patient death (OR 1.61).

Citation: Wysham KD, Murray SG, Hills N, Yelin E, Gensler LS. Cervical spine fracture and other diagnoses associated with mortality in hospitalized ankylosing spondylitis patients. [Published online ahead of print May 9, 2016]. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). doi:10.1002/acr.22934.