Pattern of ankylosing spondylitis in an Iranian population of 98 patients

Abstract

The prevalence and pattern of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) can vary from country to country, according to genetic and environmental factors. This study aims to analyze the patterns of disease in a population of Iranian patients with AS. We performed a prospective study (2002-2007) analyzing 98 patients with diagnosis of AS according to the modified New York criteria. Selected patients underwent complete clinical (initial symptom, axial and peripheral involvement, heel enthesitis, extra-articular manifestations) and radiological (sacroiliac, lumbar, thoracic, and cervical spine) investigations, and these data were compared with sex, age at onset, and HLA-B27. There was predominance of men (71.4%), adult onset (>16 years, 90.8%), and positive HLA-B27 (73.4%). Family history of AS was noted in 14.3% of the patients. The predominant initial symptoms were inflammatory low back pain (44.2%). Radiological findings included syndesmophytes in 34.7% and "bamboo spine" in 16.3% of patients. Acute anterior uveitis was noted in 44.9% of patients. Male sex was associated with involvement of shoulder (P = 0.001). Female sex and juvenile-onset AS were associated with extra-articular involvement. Positive HLA-B27 was associated with hip involvement (P = 0.042) and adult-onset AS (P = 0.035). Analysis of the patterns of disease in this population of 98 southern Iranian patients with AS revealed that female sex and juvenile-onset AS were associated with extensive extra-axial involvement; and HLA-B27 was associated with hip involvement.

Comparison of Clinical Features in HLA-B27 Positive and Negative Patients With Axial Spondyloarthritis: Results From a Cohort of 4,131 Patients

“…This study found a higher prevalence of male axSpA patients with HLA-B27, which is in accordance with that previously published in another Chinese research on radiographic SpA, and also similar in a DESIR cohort conducted in patients representing early forms of the whole spectrum of axial SpA (20,21). However, several other studies did not note any differences (16,(22)(23)(24), which may be explained by considering geographic and genetic factors.…”

Epidemiological comparison of clinical manifestations according to HLA‐B*27 carrier status of Chinese Ankylosing Spondylitis patients

“…Our results showed that HLA‐B27 + patients had a higher chance of having a family medical history of AS than HLA‐B27 − peers, which is in line with previous studies (Table ).…”

“…Furthermore, in our study, hip joint involvement was observed more frequently in HLA‐B27 + groups compared with their HLA‐B27 − peers, which is similar to the findings from some recent studies (Table ). Brophy et al suggested that hip involvement was more prevalent among patients with young onset age .…”

“…Evidence shows that uveitis/iritis , and a worse visual prognosis were observed more in the HLA‐B27 + AS group, compared with their HLA‐B27 − AS peers. Our result supported the finding of the above studies, although no significant differences were found in others . Nazarinia et al, for instance, in a study conducted on 98 Iranian patients with a diagnosis of AS, found no significant difference in the frequency of uveitis/iritis between HLA‐B27 + and HLA‐B27 − groups.…”

Different clinical features in patients with ankylosing spondylitis from southern and northern China

“…Meanwhile, population heterogeneity and potential differences in clinical pattern might also serve as possible explanations. The prevalence of enthesitis, including heel pain, was 3.4% in our present study, slightly higher than heel enthesitis in Iranian AS patients (1.9%), 36 but lower than that in Brazilian patients (6.1%) 30 . Kim et al.…”