The ASAS criteria have generally shown higher sensitivity than the ESSG criteria, particularly in early and pSpA (Table 1):

Table 1: Comparison of ESSG and ASAS criteria in terms of sensitivity and applicability to pSpA

REFERENCE

1. Chung HY, Lau CS, Wu KP, Wong WS, MOK Comparison of performance of the Assessment of SpondyloArthritis International Society, the European Spondyloarthropathy Study Group and the modified New York criteria in a cohort of Chinese patients with spondyloarthritis. Clin Rheumatol. 2011 Jul;30(7):947-53.
2. Akgul O, Ozgocmen Classification criteria for spondyloarthropathies. World J Orthop. 2011 Dec18;2(12):107-15.
3. Rudwaleit M, van der Heijde D, Landewé R, Akkoc N, Brandt J, Chou CT, Dougados M, Huang F, Gu J, Kirazli Y, Van den Bosch F, Olivieri I, Roussou E, Scarpato S, Sørensen IJ, Valle-Oñate R, Weber U, Wei J, Sieper The Assessment of SpondyloArthritis International Society classification criteria for peripheral spondyloarthritis and for spondyloarthritis in general. Ann Rheum Dis. 2011 Jan;70(1):25-31.
4. Tomero E, Mulero J, de Miguel E, Fernández-Espartero C, Gobbo M, Descalzo MA, Collantes- Estévez E, Zarco P, Muñoz-Fernández S, Carmona L; ESPERANZA Study Performance of the Assessment of Spondyloarthritis International Society criteria for the classification of spondyloarthritis in early spondyloarthritis clinics participating in the ESPERANZA programme. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2014 Feb;53(2):353-60.