Clinical Features of Ankylosing Spondylitis

Clinical Evaluation of Ankylosing Spondylitis in Switzerland

“…The early symptoms of AS in our patient cohort were early morning low back pain, diffuse spinal pain, spinal stiffness, peripheral joint pain and pain deep in the buttocks. This is in accordance with studies published by other authors (7,14,48,51).…”

“…In our cohort, the male to female sex ratio was 1.9 to 1. Earlier publications (46,(50)(51)(52)(53) describe a male predominance ranging from 15 to 1 to 4 to 1, while more recent studies (10,16,36,37,54) show a more balanced sex ratio as low as 1.8 to 1.…”

Synovial fluid in ankylosing spondylitis.

“…Sigler, Bluhm, Duncan, and Ensign(1971) found a lower total white cell count with a preponderance of mononuclear cells in the fluid of peripheral joints when ankylosing spondylitis was compared with rheumatoid disease. In the latter, a high synovial lymphocyte count is found in the milder more chronic form of the disease (Ropes and Bauer, 1953), and we have found that the lymphocyte count is inversely proportional to the activity of the joint disease (Farr, Kendall, Shuttleworth, Meynell, and Hawkins, 1973).…”