Whose truth ?

Truth can be stated in a thousand different ways, yet each one can be true.
Swami Vivekananda
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_truth2.html#KQ6uQGtzwgqgYyKs.99

Have you ever noticed that the truth keeps changing ? Some things that were once true are  no longer and things that were once believed not to be true are now true. This happens across many different subjects. In some instances, a new researcher disputes the truth and his or her new research results in a new truth.

This happens  often in medicine.  At one time it was thought that more men than women get the disease ankylosing spondylitis. Recently published research has found that about the same number of men and women get the disease. The excerpts below bring this fact to light:

Women can get ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and related diseases. A goal of the Spondylitis Association of America (SAA) is to educate the public and medical community that contrary to traditional belief, spondylitis is not just "a man’s disease."

In general, it takes longer for women to be diagnosed with spondylitis than it does for men. The following reasons for the difficulty in diagnosing spondylitis in women are generalizations and not to be used to judge spondylitis in ALL men vs. ALL women.

• Some women have a mild form of the disease that may not be as easily detected as it is in men.
• The disease may progress more slowly in women.
• Spondylitis can affect different parts of the body (neck, peripheral joints) in women than in men (low back, spine), yet the diagnostic criterion is based on men’s symptoms.
• Some women with spondylitis develop symptoms that resemble fibromyalgia or early rheumatoid arthritis.

The average age of onset does not differ significantly between the sexes, but spinal fusion (ankylosis) may progress more slowly in women than men. Women tend to be worse off than men are when it comes to pain and the need for drug therapy. The slower and relatively incomplete progression of spinal fusion in women can mean that it takes longer for pain to decrease as a result of spinal fusion.(from the SAA website).

Q: Are men and women affected at different rates between these diseases? Can you give us some details on how these rates were determined?

Similar numbers of men and women are affected with spondyloarthritis. In the past, it was thought that ankylosing spondylitis was more common in men than women . More recent studies suggest that ankylosing spondylitis occurs in similar numbers of men and women . Early estimates of the occurence of ankylosing spondylitis suggested that ankylosing spondylitis occurred 9-10 times more frequently in men than women . However, there were problems with how these early studies were done. More recent studies reported that men are 2 to 3 times more likely than women to have ankylosing spondylitis. These studies use relatively narrow definitions of ankylosing spondylitis that rely on classic manifestations of inflammatory back pain and damage on x-rays. Classic inflammatory back pain may be the initial symptom in men more frequently than in women , andwomen may have less x-ray damage than men. Despite these differences, the overall disease severity is similar in men and women .

When broader definitions are used to identify people with spondyloarthritis in the pelvis and/or spine (axial spondyloarthritis), the prevalence is similar in men and women.  (from Spring 2013 Issue of Spondylitis Plus)

Some things will always be true. 1+1 will always equal 2. But other things can be disproved by a new researcher with a different method of looking at the truth.

What is your truth ? Has it changed?

Until next time,

Think, Live and Be Pain-free--

Joy:)