Prevalence of spondyloarthritis in 504 Chinese patients with HLA-B27-associated acute anterior uveitis.

OBJECTIVES

To estimate the prevalence of spondyloarthritis (SpA) and the clinical features of human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-B27-associated acute anterior uveitis (HLA-B27 uveitis) in Chinese patients.

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective cohort study using a structured chart review to record the complete ocular history, including the onset of uveitis, month of uveitis attack, specific eye involvement, the time of first attack, and rheumatic manifestations from 1987 to 2004. A total of 504 patients with HLA-B27 uveitis were consequently enrolled consecutively from the uveitis clinic of Taipei Veterans General Hospital.

RESULTS

In total, 1719 attacks of uveitis in 504 patients were recorded. Females tended to have a higher frequency of attack than males, and those with a disease course of less than 5 years showed more uveitis recurrence. The same eye attacks were observed in 156 of 332 patients (47%), more than the expected percentage compared with attacks with random-eye occurrence (p < 0.001). A significantly higher number of uveitis attacks occurred in winter. SpA-related acute anterior uveitis (AAU) was found in 387 patients (76.8%). Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) occurred in 214 patients (42.5%), with a significantly higher prevalence in males than in females (p < 0.001). Undifferentiated SpA (USpA)-related AAU occurred in 150 patients (29.8%), with a significantly higher prevalence in females than in males (p < 0.001). Patients with SpA had an earlier onset of uveitis (p = 0.01) and a greater number (> or = 6) of attacks (p = 0.03).

CONCLUSIONS

The prevalence of SpA was high in the Chinese population with HLA-B27-associated uveitis. The association with SpA indicated an earlier age of uveitis onset and a greater likelihood of having a higher number of uveitis attacks.