Salpingitis and cervicitis in uro-arthritis

To compare anamnestic cervicitis and salpingitis as a relative risk for uro-arthritis the medical history of 60 consecutive females with uro-arthritis was compared with that of 311 interviewed controls. Salpingitis was revealed to be a relative risk factor of 3.2 as compared to cervicitis 1.4 in connection with uro-arthritis. HLA-B27 was tested in the 60 patients and in an additional 7 females with uro-arthritis, all of whom had a history of salpingitis. HLA-B27 was positive in 42% (28/67). There were no significant differences between those with or without cervicitis or salpingitis or both. Salpingitis could thus as justifiably be accepted as a diagnostic criterion for RS as cervicitis. These findings and clinical observations, including comprehensive histories of the patients concerned, serve as a basis for our hypothesis of rheumatic salpingitis. Further prospective and co-operative investigations will be needed to confirm or disprove this hypothesis.