HLA-B27 Prevalence in Arab Populations and Among Patients with Ankylosing Spondylitis

Objective. To investigate prevalence of HLA-B27 among general Arab populations and among patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), and to review published data. Methods. The prevalence of HLA-B27 was studied among 2579 unrelated healthy Jordanians, almost equally divided among Palestinian refugees and natives of Jordan, reflecting the general population of Jordan. The prevalence of HLA-B27 was also studied among 129 patients with AS, 70 from Jordan, and the remaining 59 from Qatar. HLA typing was performed by standard 2-stage micro-lymphocytotoxicity method. We also reviewed published English language studies of HLA-B27 in Arab patients with AS and general populations retrieved through Medline and cross-reference search. Results. We observed that the general prevalence of HLA-B27 among Jordanians is 2.4%; while the reported prevalence ranges between 2% and 5% among major Arab populations. The prevalence of HLA-B27 among patients with AS is 71% in Jordan and 73% in Qatar, while the reported prevalence from pooled published data from various Arab populations is 64%. Conclusion. From these data one can conclude that HLA-B27 is present in about 2% to 5% among major Arab populations and that its prevalence in Arab patients with AS is closer to 70%.

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