Good construct validity of the CT Syndesmophyte Score (CTSS) in patients with radiographic axial spondyloarthritis

To assess construct validity of the CT Syndesmophyte Score (CTSS) for the measurement of structural spinal damage in patients with radiographic axial spondyloarthritis.

Low-dose CT and conventional radiography (CR) were performed at baseline and 2 years. CT was assessed with CTSS by two readers and CR with modified Stoke Ankylosing Spondylitis Spinal Score (mSASSS) by three readers. Two hypotheses were tested: (1) syndesmophytes scored with CTSS are also detected with mSASSS at baseline or 2 years later; (2) CTSS is non-inferior to mSASSS in correlations with spinal mobility measures. Presence of a syndesmophyte was determined per reader per corner for all anterior cervical and lumbar corners on CT at baseline and CR at baseline and 2 years. Correlations of CTSS and mSASSS with six spinal/hip mobility measurements plus Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Metrology Index (BASMI) were tested.

Data from 48 patients (85% male, 85% HLA-B27+, mean age 48 years) were available for hypothesis 1 and 41/48 were available for hypothesis 2. At baseline, syndesmophytes were scored with CTSS in 348 (reader 1, 38%) and 327 (reader 2, 36%) corners out of 917. Of these, depending on reader pairs, 62%-79% were also seen on CR at baseline or after 2 years. CTSS correlated well (r 0.46-0.73), and with higher correlation coefficients than mSASSS (r 0.34-0.64), with all spinal mobility measures and BASMI.

The good agreement between syndesmophytes detected by CTSS and mSASSS and the strong correlation of CTSS with spinal mobility support the construct validity of the CTSS.