Virginia Via Research Day Book 2026

Medical Student Research Biomedical

14 ANKYLOSING SPONDYLITIS AND ALZHEIMER DISEASE: A RETROSPECTIVE COHORT ANALYSIS OF INCIDENCE AND ONSET

Madeleine Sifford, OMS-II (1*); Virginia Axline, OMS-II (1*); Angelica Joshi, OMS-II (1*); Kelly C.S. Roballo, DVM, PhD. *These authors contributed equally to this work Corresponding author: msifford@vcom.edu

VCOM-Virginia, Blacksburg, Virginia

spinal levels. We will exclude individuals whose AD diagnosis precedes their AS diagnosis or whose dementia diagnosis is determined to be incidental. We will match our control and experimental groups by age, sex, and race. The data will be analyzed using a Chi square test to determine potential correlations between the incidence and age of onset of AD with or without a prior diagnosis of AS. Results: Data extraction and analysis are ongoing. Preliminary analysis reveals that patients experiencing AS prior to their AD diagnosis were diagnosed with AD an average of 9 years earlier than the controls, at 74 years old, compared to 83 years old in the control group. We anticipate observing a continued difference in the incidence and timing of AD onset in patients with preceding AS as we continue to analyze the dataset. Conclusions: Preliminary findings suggest a higher prevalence and earlier onset of Alzheimer's disease or severe dementia in patients who were previously diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis at any spinal level. These results indicate that further research must

be done to clarify the relationship between ankylosing spondylitis and AD, and that more extensive dementia assessment and management for the AS population may be beneficial. IRB Statement: Not applicable. This project is a retrospective cohort study and does not involve human or new animal subjects. Source citation: Jang HD, Park JS, Kim DW, Han K, Shin BJ, Lee JC, Choi SW, Suh SW, Yang JH, Park SY, Cho WJ, Hong JY. Relationship between dementia and ankylosing spondylitis: A nationwide, population based, retrospective longitudinal cohort study. PLoS One. 2019 Jan 31;14(1):e0210335. doi: 10.1371/ journal.pone.0210335. PMID: 30703142; PMCID: PMC6354978.

Context: Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is an autoimmune inflammatory condition that causes severe arthritis of the spine. While the precise cause of this disease has not been determined yet, AS has previously been associated with other cardiovascular, psychological, and cerebrovascular comorbidities (Jang et al., 2019). However, there is little known about the relationship between Alzheimer's disease (AD), a highly prevalent neurodegenerative disease, and AS. This study investigates the possible correlation AS disease has with AD incidence and age of onset. Objective/Hypothesis: To examine the association between ankylosing spondylitis of the spine and incidence and onset of Alzheimer's disease or severe dementia. We hypothesize that participants with an AS diagnosis have an increased risk for developing AD later in life and at an earlier age of onset. Methods: Using the All of Us database, we will extract participants who have a diagnosis of Alzheimer Disease or other selected dementias, alongside a previous diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis at varying

Table of Contents

103 2026 Research Recognition Day