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Ankylosing spondylitis - Background information
How common is it?
- Ankylosing spondylitis is not uncommon:
- Incidence. It is estimated that each year about 2% of people in a general practice will present with back pain and up to 5% of these will show features of ankylosing spondylitis [Underwood and Dawes, 1995].
- Prevalence. Estimates of the prevalence of ankylosing spondylitis vary between 0.1% and 2% in different populations [Gran and Husby, 2003]. There are around 200,000 diagnosed cases in the UK [DH, 2006].
- Sex. It is about three times more common in men than women.
- Age. It most commonly begins between 15 and 35 years of age, but also occurs in children and older adults. In children it presents as peripheral arthritis with spinal disease developing later.
- Familial association. It is more common in people with the HLA-B27 antigen, and in this group, the risk of ankylosing spondylitis or similar type of arthritis (i.e. spondyloarthropathy) is three times more common in first degree relatives [Khan, 2002].
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