TY - JOUR T1 - Relationship between disease activity and infection in patients with spondyloarthropathies JF - Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases JO - Ann Rheum Dis SP - 1338 LP - 1340 DO - 10.1136/ard.2003.011882 VL - 63 IS - 10 AU - A Martínez AU - C Pacheco-Tena AU - J Vázquez-Mellado AU - R Burgos-Vargas Y1 - 2004/10/01 UR - http://ard.bmj.com/content/63/10/1338.abstract N2 - Objective: To assess the relationship between disease activity and signs and symptoms of infection in Mexican patients with spondyloarthropathies (SpA).Methods: A cross sectional study of 95 non-selected patients with SpA (62 men; mean age 26.4 years), who were examined for signs and symptoms of infection and their association with disease activity. 52 had ankylosing spondylitis (AS), 32 undifferentiated SpA (uSpA), 6 chronic reactive arthritis (ReA), and 5 psoriatic arthritis (PsA). Categorical data were analysed by χ2 or Fisher’s tests.Results: 53 (56%) patients had infections: 41 (43%) upper respiratory tract (URT), 34 (36%) enteric, and 20 (21%) genitourinary infections. More infections occurred in HLA-B27 positive patients as a whole (39 v 5; p = 0.003) and in uSpA (12 v 2; p = 0.005). In AS and uSpA, infections occurred in ∼50%. 30/39 (77%) patients with active disease (group A) and 23/56 (41%) (group B) (p = 0.001) had infection. There were more enteric infections in group A (47%; p<0.001) and more URT infections in group B (52%; p = NS). 22/30 (73%) patients attributed disease activity to infection.Conclusion: Enteric, and less commonly, URT infections in Mexican patients with SpA, particularly those who were HLA-B27 positive, seem to have a role in the active phase of AS and uSpA. ER -