[Effect of a positive family history on the prognosis in patient with Bechterew disease].

The objective of the present study was to evaluate whether the patients with a family history of ankylosing spondylitis might have a milder course of the disease than patients with a negative family history. We investigated a group of 197 patients with ankylosing spondylitis who had been suffering from symptoms of the disease for > or = 20 years. After exclusion of the patients with a history, or current evidence of colitis or urethritis, the remaining 148 patients with ankylosing spondylitis (none with psoriasis) were divided into 2 groups on the basis of a positive (25 patients) or a negative (123 patients) family history of ankylosing spondylitis. The variables of mobility were compared. Furthermore, the present height was compared with the former (maximum) height. All variables measured in the present study showed slightly better results in the patients with a positive family history, but the differences were not significant. The decrease of height was slightly larger in patients with a positive family history. Evidently, a positive family history does not appear to give a reliable prediction of the long-term prognosis in Austrian and German patients with ankylosing spondylitis.