SUMMARY In an epidemiological survey in Troms0, northern Norway a prevalence of definite ankylosing spondylitis (AS) of between 1-1% and 1-4% was found (males: 1 9-2 2% and females: 0-3-0.6%). The ratio of male to female was between 3 9 and 6-1 in favour of the male sex. It was calculated that 6-7% of the B27 positive individuals had AS, and that 22-5% of the B27 positive subjects with back pain or stiffness suffered from AS.
Some 50% of patients had stable or slightly unstable knees, and 40% good or excellent function according to the Lysholm score. Re-operation for instability was more frequent in younger patients, while ostearthritis was more frequent in older patients. The rate of meniscus resection or extirpation was low. Open repair by suture is no longer recommended. Further research is indicated on the possible use of refixation of the ruptured ACL by arthroscopy.
The results confirm calprotectin as a good measure of disease activity and joint inflammation in RA. However, the level of calprotectin at baseline was not predictive for radiographic damage or functional impairment five years later.
SUMMARY The radiographic changes of ankylosing spondylitis were studied in 50 females and 82 males. There was a tendency for the males to have more severe arthritic changes in the sacroiliac joints than the females, but the difference did not reach statistical significance. Males significantly more often had radiological involvement of the lumbar spine. More restricted lumbar mobility, total spinal flexion, and chest expansion were found in males with x-ray changes in the lumbar spine than in males without such features. No were reviewed. Hospital records contained sufficient information for the purpose of the present study in 82 cases of AS (22 females and 60 males), and these were therefore included in the analysis. In addition, an epidemiological survey was undertaken in Troms0 municipality in 1979, and the 22 males and five females with definite AS identified through this survey were also included. In order to obtain a sufficient number of female AS patients for the investigation 23 additional females with AS consecutively seen at Revmatismehuset, Trondheim, Norway were included. Thus, altogether 50 females aged 23-63 years (mean age 40-6 years) and 82 males aged 20-59 years (mean age 36-7 years) were studied ( Table 1). The mean disease duration was 15*3 years (range 2-45 years) in females and 13-7 years (range 1-41 years) in males (Table 1).Clinical examination. The mobility of the lumbar spine was measured by Schober's test,13 and total spinal mobility (except the cervical spine) was determined by spondylometry.'4 Chest expansion was measured according to accepted standards.'5The age at onset of AS was given by the patients themselves. Because of possible observer variation between clinicians at the two hospitals, the results of 570 on 8 May 2018 by guest. Protected by copyright.
Calprotectin showed the strongest correlation with measures of disease activity and may be better than S100A12 when evaluating disease activity in RA patients. More extensive studies are needed to further compare the predictive value of the S100 proteins relative to radiographic progression.
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