Osteoporosis is a well-recognized complication of ankylosing spondylitis (AS), but there are no guidelines for its appropriate management or prevention. Therefore, researchers in the United Kingdom sent a questionnaire to rheumatologists to tabulate practice patterns.

310 rheumatologists completed the 14-question survey. Researcher Rupa Bessant and colleagues found only 98 respondents (31.6%) indicated that the assessment of osteoporosis formed part of their routine management of AS. 101 rheumatologists (32.6%) said they offered dietary advice, whereas 306 (98.7%) gave advice on exercise. When faced with two case scenarios, the participating rheumatologists were also very inconsistent in how they would treat the patients in the scenarios.

Bessant and colleagues concluded that the majority of British rheumatologists do not routinely assess patients with AS for osteoporosis. Most would manage osteoporosis in AS in a similar way to postmenopausal osteoporosis. The researchers concluded that more study was needed.