That's what a German study in the June issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism found.

AS is characterized by inflammation of the joints of the spine. It can affect both men and women, but the majority of people with AS are young men who begin to develop chronic low back pain and general stiffness in their 20s and 30s.

AS can fuse the spine and cause serious problems of the hip and other joints. This may occur gradually, but it can also happen rapidly. Because the disease can occur at a young age and because the early symptoms of AS are often overlooked, the condition can be difficult to treat.

The common current therapy consists of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and physiotherapy. But this approach has limited success in relieving AS-related pain or improving quality of life for people with the disease.

This study included 30 males with active AS. They were randomly divided into two groups. For the first six weeks, 14 of them received 25 milligrams of etanercept twice a week while the other 16 received a placebo. For the final six weeks of the study, all 30 men received etanercept.

The study found that treatment with etanercept resulted in at least a 50 percent regression of AS activity in 57 percent of the AS patients by the sixth week, compared with 6 percent of the men treated with placebo.

After the men receiving the placebo were switched to the drug, 56 percent of them had significant improvement of their AS symptoms.

More information

Here's where you can learn more about ankylosing spondylitis.