title: Prevalence of spondyloarthritis in Turkish patients with inflammatory bowel disease.
abstract: Rheumatic manifestations are the most common extraintestinal findings of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), although there are wide variations among different studies. The only previous Turkish study reported a rather high prevalence of spondyloarthritis (SpA) in patients with IBD. We aimed to determine the frequency of SpA and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) in patients with IBD attending a gastroenterology clinic from a referral centre. The study was conducted in 122 patients with established diagnosis of IBD [28 with Crohn's disease (CD) and 94 with ulcerative colitis (UC)]. A detailed medical history was obtained and a complete physical examination was performed in all the patients. Standard pelvic X-rays for examination of the sacroiliac joints were performed only when clinically indicated. The X-rays were read blindly by an experienced rheumatologist and reported according to the established grading system. The modified New York criteria were used to classify AS, and the European Spondyloarthropathy Study Group criteria for SpA. The prevalence of AS and SpA in patients with IBD was 8.2 and 28.7%, respectively. SpA was found to be significantly more common in the patients with CD compared to patients with UC, but the frequency of AS was not different between these two groups. There was no correlation between localisation or extent of the intestinal inflammation and presence of AS and SpA. A higher frequency of women was observed in patients diagnosed as SpA. Almost half of the patients with SpA (45.7%) had not been diagnosed before the study, although they had a history of IBP and/or peripheral arthritis. This study suggests that the prevalences of SpA and AS in Turkish patients with IBD are similar to those in many other populations. There may be a significant female predominance of SpA among patients with IBD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Dokuz Eylul Universtiy School of Medicine, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Asli
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Beslek
authors.forename: Fatos
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Onen
authors.forename: Merih
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Birlik
authors.forename: Mesut
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Akarsu
authors.forename: Servet
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Akar
authors.forename: Ismail
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sari
authors.forename: Oguz
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Gurler
authors.forename: Hale
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Akpinar
authors.forename: Metin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Manisali
authors.forename: Nurullah
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Akkoc
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010808:Physical Examination; D015995:Prevalence; D011859:Radiography; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012446:Sacroiliac Joint / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012737:Sex Factors; D025241:Spondylarthritis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013167:Spondylitis, Ankylosing / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D014965:X-Rays; D055815:Young Adult