Ankylosing spondylitis in three Finnish population samples. Prostatovesiculitis and salpingo-oophoritis as aetiological factors

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Abstract
The prevalence of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) was studied in three Finnish population samples. AS was found in 0.4 % by chest X-ray pictures of 10 ± 10 cm in 6 176 persons from southern Finland. A pilot study of 750 persons from all parts of Finland based on normal-sized chest X-ray pictures gave prevalence of 1.6 %. A population of 580 persons from southwestern Finland was interviewed and the persons with low back pain were thoroughly studied, using also lumbar spine X-rays. There were 6 cases of AS in 196 persons, which gives a prevalence of 1 % in the whole sample. The results obtained by lumbar spine X-rays were compared with similarly studied earlier results from follow-up studies of patients suffering from chronic prostatovesiculitis and salpingo-oophoritis. Although the prevalence of AS in the prostatis group 7.5 years after their hospital treatment was twice as high as the prevalence in the low back pain population (5.2 % compared with 2.6 %) the difference was not significant. The difference was even smaller in women with previous hospital treated S-Olitis compared with the female low back pain sample and population sample. It seems that the aetiologic role of those chronic urogenital infections is small on the population level.