Clinical profile of Spondarthritis in females as compared to male patients with reference to HLAB27: A single center study from Nepal

Abstract

Background and Aims-To study the differences in clinical parameters between male and female patients with spondarthritis (SpA) in Nepalese population; to study the prevalence of HLA B27 phenotype in Nepalese patients with SpA and to study the differences in clinical parameters in relation to HLA B27 phenotype. Methods- This is cross sectional observational study of 102 patients diagnosed with SpA attending rheumatology clinic at Alka Hospital, Nepal from September 2011 to February 2012. Electronic clinical registry was maintained and HLA B27 was performed by flowcytometry. Results- A total of 102 patients with SpA were enrolled in the study with male to female ratio of 1.8:1 . The mean age of male patients was 6±3 years lower than that of female patients (p=0.05). There were no other statistically significant differences in clinical parameters or prevalence of HLA B27 in both the genders. Of the total patients, 52.9% were HLA B27 positive. Presence of HLA B27 was associated with early presentation by 7.1±2.8 years and the occurrence of inflammatory spinal pain P <0.001. Statistically significant association of HLA B27 with other clinical manifestations of SpA were not seen. Conclusions- HLA B27 was present in 52.9% of patients with diagnosed SpA. The presence of HLA B27 was associated with earlier presentation of disease and occurrence of inflammatory spinal pain. However, there was no gender difference in clinical manifestation of SpA or prevalence of HLAB27 in our patients except for early age at presentation in male patients. Journal of Advances in Internal Medicine 2013;02(01):3-5 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jaim.v2i1.7628