Mazón IG, Rueda-Gotor J, Ferraz-Amaro I, et al. - Researchers compared ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and non-radiographic (nr) axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) in terms of atherosclerosis disease burden in this cross-sectional analysis from the AtheSpAin cohort, a Spanish multicenter cohort intended to study atherosclerosis in axSpA. They also sought to establish a model to recognize high-cardiovascular (CV) risk in axial spondyloarthritis cases. To ascertain carotid intima-media wall thickness and carotid plaques, participants were asked to undergo carotid ultrasound (US). Also, experts employed the European cardiovascular disease risk assessment model, the Systematic COronary Risk Evaluation (SCORE). Findings demonstrated a similar burden of atherosclerosis between nr-axSpA and AS. As happened for AS, reclassification of more than 40% of axSpA patients, who were incorporated in the category of moderate CV risk as per the SCORE, was done into very high risk following carotid US, and with the help of a model comprising age, BASFI and erythrocyte sedimentation rate, detection of a clinically relevant proportion of them was enabled.