EVALUATION OF THE AMOR AND ESSG CLASSIFICATION CRITERIA FOR SPONDYLARTHROPATHIES IN A TURKISH POPULATION

This study evaluated the Amor and European Spondylarthropathy Study Gr oup (ESSG) classification criteria for spondyloarthropathies in Turkis h patients seen from October 1990 to August 1993 at the Physical Medic ine and Rehabilitation Department of the GATA Haydarpasa Training Hosp ital. The Amor and ESSG criteria were evaluated in 157 patients with s pondylarthropathies and in 124 controls with a variety of other rheuma tic diseases. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of each criteria set were calculated, a s well as the sensitivity and specificity of each of the 24 criteria u sed in these sets. For Amor's criteria, sensitivity was 88.5%, specifi city was 91.9%, positive predictive value was 93.3% and negative predi ctive value was 86.4%. For the ESSG criteria, sensitivity was 86.6%, s pecificity was 91.1%, positive predictive value was 92.5% and negative predictive value was 84.3%. No significant differences were found bet ween the two criteria sets. Our data show that the Amor and ESSG crite ria are of similar value for the classification of spondylarthropathie s and are comparable in terms of sensitivity and specificity. They als o demonstrate the need for monitoring patients with equivocal clinical patterns using both sets of criteria as tools that complement each ot her.