title: The chronicity of symptoms and disability in Reiter's syndrome. An analysis of 131 consecutive patients.
abstract: To assess the natural history of Reiter's disease, we evaluated 131 consecutive patients at a university clinic or at a community center. One hundred twenty-two patients (93%) were available for follow-up at a mean of 5.6 years. The results showed that there were no major differences between patients at the two centers; at follow-up, 101 (83%) had some disease activity, 27 (22%) had annoying symptoms, 42 (34%) had sustained disease activity, 19 (16%) had had to change jobs, and 13 (11%) were unemployable; there were no major differences between the 19 (15%) females and 112 (85%) males or between the HLA-B27-positive (83%) and -negative (17%) patients, except for increased prevalence of sacroilitis and chronic uveitis in HLA-B27-positive patients; and, at entry, only increased heel disease differentiated those destined to have a poor prognosis. Most patients with Reiter's syndrome have persisting symptoms that can lead to chronic disability.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016918:Arthritis, Reactive / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D001416:Back Pain / Q000209:etiology; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000209:etiology; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006680:HLA Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010146:Pain; D012008:Recurrence; D012050:Rehabilitation, Vocational; D012737:Sex Factors; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D006680:HLA Antigens