Incidence and prevalence of ankylosing spondylitis in Northern Norway

Abstract

Objective. To determine the incidence and prevalence of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) over a prolonged period in the 2 northernmost counties of Norway, where HLA-B27 has a high prevalence in the population. Methods. We conducted a cohort study of all patients registered with a diagnosis of AS between 1960 and 1993 at the University Hospital of Northern Norway, which is the sole rheumatology department serving these counties. We registered demographics, year of disease onset (clinical disease), and year of diagnosis (radiograph confirmation) for all patients. The date of onset of clinical disease in patients with AS was used in the calculation of incidence rates. Annual incidence and point/period prevalence rates were expressed per 100,000 adults. Primary AS was defined as AS in the absence of psoriasis or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Nutritional aspects and vitamin D supplementation in ankylosing spondylitis

“…During the last decades it has been observed an increased prevalence of SpA, including AS, in the population of the Northern Norway, from 0.036% to 0.21% 36 . This increase triggered the necessity to identify additional factors that could be responsible for this upwards trend.…”

Epidemiologiske forhold ved ankyloserende spondylitt

“…Ettersom de destruktive forandringene i ISleddene er resultatet av en langsom inflammatorisk prosess, vil det ofte ta lang tid før destruksjonen er synlig på konvensjonell røntgen. Dette har medført en forsinket diagnostikk fra symptomdebut på 5-11 år ved denne metoden (9).…”

“…I studien utført ved universitetssykehuset i Tromsø, fant vi insidens av primaer AS i perioden 1960-1993 å vaere 7,26 (5,33-9,22, 95% konfidensintervall) per 100.000 personår, og 8,71 (6,38-11,04) når vi også inkluderte pasienter med sekundaer AS. I tidsperioden 1971-1981 var den årlige insidensraten av primaer og sekundaer AS henholdsvis 8,87 (6,23-11,51) og 10,64 (7,10-13,58) per 100.000 personår (9).…”

“…Imidlertid fant vi en slående forskjell vedrøren-de punktprevalens i 1993 mellom Tromsø kommune og Troms og Finnmark for øvrig, henholdsvis 0,41% og 0,26%. Hvis man aksepterer antakelsen om at det ikke er store genetiske forskjeller i befolkningen i disse områdene, indikerer dette at tilstanden er betydelig underdiagnostisert (9). I en tidligere publisert populasjonsbasert studie fra Tromsø fant man en betydelig høyere prevalens på 1,1-1,4% (29), og det må derfor antas at vårt estimat på 0,41% er et konservativt anslag.…”

Η Συχνότητα Των Ρευματικών Νόσων Στο Νομό Μαγνησίας

“…΄Ετσι, κυµαίνεται από 0,1% σε µαύρους της Αφρικής και σε Εσκιµώους , που έχουν χαµηλή συχνότητα του HLA-Β27 (Baum J et al 1971), 0,13% σε λευκούς των ΗΠΑ (Helmick CG et al 2008), 0,21% στη Βόρεια Νορβηγία (Backland G et al 2005), σε 0,5%-1% στην Αγγλία και φθάνει µέχρι 6,0% στους Ιθαγενείς Ινδιάνους της Βόρειας Αµερικής, όπως στους Haida του Καναδά ( Hochberg MC 1984). Στη µελέτη µας, ο επιπολασµός της ΑΣ βρέθηκε 0,29% που πλησιάζει περισσότερο µε τη µελέτη του 2002 στην Ελλάδα (0,24%) (Αndriankos A et al 2003) παρά στη µελέτη της βορειοδυτικής Ελλάδας που βρήκε 0,03% (Alamanos Y et al 2004).…”