EVALUATION OF THE EUROPEAN SPONDYLARTHROPATHY STUDY-GROUP (ESSG) PRELIMINARY CLASSIFICATION CRITERIA IN BRAZILIAN PATIENTS

Objective: To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of the ESSG cri teria when applied to Brazilian patients with SpA and control patients with other rheumatic diseases. Methods: Seventy patients with spondyl arthropathies and 62 patients with other rheumatic diseases were inter viewed, examined and had their charts reviewed. The diagnoses of the d iseases were based on published diagnostic guidelines or classificatio n criteria. Data were also collected according to the ESSG criteria. R esults: The sensitivity and specificity of the ESSG classification cri teria were 98.5% and 88.7%, respectively. The sensitivities of the cri teria in the different subgroups of SpA ranged from a low Of 97.7% in AS to a high of 100% in other SpA studied. Conclusion: Despite differe nces in the socio-cultural and geographic characteristics and in indiv idual disease frequencies, the ESSG preliminary classification criteri a performed well when applied to Brazilian patients.