Frequency of inflammatory back pain and sacroiliitis in Egyptian patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

Abstract Background The aim of this study is to determine the frequency of inflammatory back pain and associated ankylosing spondylitis in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Results Sacroiliitis was found in 22% of rheumatoid arthritis patients. The frequency of rheumatoid arthritis patients who fulfilled classification criteria for spondyloarthritis or ankylosing spondylitis was 58%, in whom HLA-B27 was positive in 21 patients (35.2%) and was correlated with MRI sacroiliitis. Twenty pecent of rheumatoid arthritis patients had ankylosing spondylitis (56%) and 27% had axial spondyloarthritis. Conclusion Frequencies of inflammatory back pain and sacroiliitis in Egyptian rheumatoid arthritis patients were high.

Keywords

• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Ankylosing spondylitis
• Inflammatory back pain
• Sacroiliitis