to perform a prospective study of clinical presentation and course of uveitis in spondyloarthritis (SpA) patients as well as its association with the HLA-B27 histocompatibility antigen.
The study included 219 patients with uveitis, all tested for HLA-B27 antigen and various infections (viral, bacterial, and parasitic) as well as examined for locomotive system involvement.
The presence of the HLA-B27 antigen was determined in 142 (64.8%) out of 219 patients, of them 87 were diagnosed with an entity of the SpA group. The remaining 77 (35.2%) patients appeared to be HLA-B27-negative, but 13 were still diagnosed with an entity of the SpA group. There were 10 (4.6%) patients with 2 or more diseases from the SpA group («clinical decussation»). When comparing the two groups of HLA-B27-positive and negative patients having both SpA and uveitis, no statistically significant difference was found as to the age of onset, site, frequency of attacks, and uni- or bilateral involvement (p>0.05). We also performed a comparison of HLA-B27-positive and negative patients with no account to their SpA status and revealed a higher complication rate in those that were «negative» (p0.05). Cases of «decussation» between entities of the SpA group are usually more severe in terms of clinical presentation and course of uveitis and are associated with a worse prognosis. Complications of uveitis are more likely to be found in non-SpA HLA-B27-negative patients (?