A clinical study of Thai patients with spondyloarthropathy

Eighty-eight Thai patients (61 males and 27 females) with spondyloarthropathy (SpA) were studied. Their mean age and mean duration of the disease were 25.97 and 3.34 years respectively. In 16 cases the disease first appeared before the age of 16 or had juvenile onset. Eleven cases were ankylosing spondylitis (AS), 9 were juvenile AS (JAS), 20 were Reiter's syndrome (RS), 4 were juvenile RS, 14 were psoriatic arthritis (PsA), 27 were undifferentiated SpA (uSpA), and 3 were juvenile uSpA. Peripheral arthritis, especially oligoarthritis of the lower extremity joints, was the most common form of arthritis in all groups, except for PsA, where polyarthritis was common. Back pain and bilateral sacroiliitis were commonly seen in JAS and AS. Enthesopathy was not uncommon. Extra-articular manifestations were more common in RS patients. Acute inflammatory eye diseases were seen in 45 per cent of AS and 66 per cent of RS cases. In general, the clinical features of Thai patients with SpA were similar to those reported in other countries in Asia and the west.