Male and female patients with axial spondyloarthritis experience the disease differently, researchers say.

In a cross-sectional study of 466 patients from the ongoing observational Groningen Leeuwarden Axial Spondyloarthritis cohort patient reported measures of disease activity, physical function and quality of life were significantly worse for females.

Writing in Rheumatology the researchers said the gender differences could be explained by subjective aspects of disease activity since they found similar CRP levels for males and females.

“In general women are more likely to have a lower pain threshold and lower tolerance to pain than men, but data also suggest that women are more likely to be inadequately treated,” they wrote.

“We recommend being aware of these differences when interpreting BASDAI and ASDAS results in clinical studies,” they said.