[The problem of Bechterew's disease from the viewpoint of social security]

Ankylosing spondylitis has a medically well defined clinical picture. It was investigated how often the social security has to deal with it with regards to pension and treatment. The investigations were based on the statistics of the "Verband Deutcher Rentenversicherungen" and 2 groups of the "Landerversicherungsanstalt Rheinprovinz", and the number of individuals who in 1969/70 received a pension because of this disease (n = 157) or received a treatment payed by the social security. The pensioners were observed over a period of 7 years. 21.7% had died and 27.4% were receiving a pension because of disability. Most of the insured persons who had died had not had treatment. From the insured persons who had had treatment 7 years earlier (n = 971) 3% had died and only 16% had applied for a pension, almost always with success. It is pointed out that in case of medical diagnosis the discrepancy between objective finding and the patients' willingness to work must be considered together. There are considerable doubts with regards to drawing any epidemiological conclusions from these results.