VALIDATION OF THE EUROPEAN SPONDYLARTHROPATHY STUDY-GROUP AND AMOR,B.CRITERIA FOR SPONDYLARTHROPATHIES IN LEBANON

Objectives: 1) To validate European Spondylarthropathy Study Group (ES SG) and B. Amor's criteria for spondylarthropathies in Lebanon. 2) To evaluate the frequency of spondylarthropathies in rheumatological prac tice in Lebanon. Patients and methods. Cases of definite and probable spondylarthropathy were diagnosed based on the clinical judgement of p articipating rheumatologists, without reference to the two criteria se ts under study. The first two patients without spondylarthropathy seen after each spondylarthropathy case were included into the control gro up. Criteria in the ESSG and B. Amor sets were looked for in the patie nt and control groups. The frequency of spondylarthropathy meeting eac h criteria set was determined. Results. Of the 841 patients evaluated during the study period, 68 met B. Amor's criteria and 72 met ESSG cri teria. There were 29 cases of ankylosing spondylitis (40.3%), ten of p eripheral psoriatic arthritis (13.8%), two of reactive arthritis (2.8% ), two of enteropathic arthropathy (2.8%), and 29 of undifferentiated spondylarthropathy (40.3%). In the definite spondylarthropathy group, sensitivity and specificity were 77.19% and 97.55% for B. Amor's crite ria versus 91.23% and 100% for ESSG criteria. The frequency of spondyl arthropathy was 8.1% (95% confidence interval [CI], 6.3-9.9) or 8.56% (CI 6.6-10.5) according to B. Amor and ESSG criteria, respectively. Co nclusion. Our data validate both criteria sets in the Lebanese populat ion, demonstrating that they are useful in populations that are geneti cally different from the European populations used to develop them. Sp ondyloarthropathy is the most common.