The current concept of spondyloarthritis with special emphasis on undifferentiated spondyloarthritis

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Abstract
In a recent international workshop for ankylosing spondylitis (AS), a consensus was reached that the term ‘spondyloarthritis’ is preferable to ‘spondyloarthropathy’, to emphasize the inflammatory nature of these diseases [1]. The term is often quoted in the plural form, ‘the spondyloarthritides’, accentuating that this is a group of similar diseases with distinct clinical features and a common genetic predisposition, rather than one disease with different clinical presentations. The main association recognized is with HLA B27 but it is clear that there are other genes involved, including the interleukin-1 family gene cluster [2, 3].