Spondyloarthritis in patients with ulcerative colitis

Extraintestinal manifestations can complicate the course of ulcerative colitis and can influence the prognosis.

Sixty-eight patients of the metropolitan area of Florence with ulcerative colitis in clinical and endoscopic remission were evaluated to establish the presence of spondyloarthritis.

Each patient was studied through clinical and radiological evaluations to assess the presence of joint involvement.

We found signs of spondyloarthritis in 19 patients (27.9%). Four of them had a classic ankylosing spondylitis (5.8%) and in 3 of them the aplotype HLA B27 was present. Sacroileitis was found in 9 (13.2%) patients (monolateral in 5 cases and bilateral in 4). Six patients (8.8%) showed an unclassifiable form of arthritis, fulfilling the Amor criteria. In 13 of 19 patients with spondyloarthritis, we found a pancolic extension of disease (68.4%).

The results obtained from our series of ulcerative colitis patients reveal a lower proportion of cases of spondyloarthritis than that found in other Italian studies. We are planning further investigations on a larger population to better assess the prevalence of spondyloarthritis in ulcerative colitis patients.